


Breathe

by Josh89



Series: Breathe [2]
Category: Castle (TV 2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Case Fic, Detectives, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Major Original Character(s), Minor Canonical Character(s), Near Future, Original Character Death(s), POV Alternating, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-08 09:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21473833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh89/pseuds/Josh89
Summary: 29 years ago, Richard Castle and Kate Beckett got married.26 years ago, they had a son, Alexander (Alex) Rory Castle.Present day - Alex Castle is now a detective in his own right, leading one of New York's most impressive teams of detectives while trying to solve a mystery he's been grappling with ever since he was 16 years old.-This story is the most important fic of the Breathe universe and will be ongoing. Further one-shots will be added to this series as they occur, but this fic will focus on the detective work done by Alex and his team, as well as the occasional flashback to his parents' relationship.-
Relationships: Kate Beckett/Richard Castle, Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: Breathe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545028
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Prolouge and Chapter 1 are extremely short compared to the rest of the fic so I'll be posting them in the same chapter. I'll be posting Chapter 2 the same update, but it will be it's own chapter.

**Prologue:**

A young woman sat at the desk of a hotel room, going over a set of pages on the desk in front of her, the desktop lamp the only light in the otherwise dim room. As she read, her pale blue eyes following the flow of words across the page, her pale, perfect, mouth moving silently as she sounded out each word in turn. She remained blissfully unaware as a dark figure slipped into the room, calmly aiming a silenced pistol at the back of her head. A single shot was fired, killing the woman immediately. The figure soon turned and left, leaving only a dead body, an empty safe, and the smell of gunpowder behind.

**Chapter 1: **

**-Alex Castle, 10: 15 am-**

My phone rang just as I was leaving the building I had bought a penthouse apartment in, a building which was about half an hour's easy walk from the Precinct.

Sighing, I pulled it from my pocket and tapped a key, putting the device to my ear. "Castle".

"Alex, you'd better get here right away. Sunview Hotel, room 204. You need to see this".

I nodded grimly; having already figured out it was about a murder. "On my way, Tania. I'll be there in about twenty minutes".

-Twenty minutes later-

I stepped out of the car I had received for my 21st birthday (a gift from my parents) in front of the Sunview Hotel, automatically spotting the manager of the (apparently newly-decorated) building coming in my direction across the car park. I smiled slightly. "Mr Stevens. I'm Detective Alex Castle, of the NYPD. I'm sorry we couldn't meet under less pleasant circumstances".

He inclined his head slightly. "As am I".

"If you don't mind me asking, who found the body?" I queried as he led the way up the grey metal stairs to the first floor.

"One of the cleaning staff found it when she went to clean the room. That was about fifty minutes ago. I called the police right away".

"Good. Now, I take it this is room 204?" I queried, gesturing to the door of the room we were approaching.

He nodded again. "Yes, this is room 204. I'll leave you to your business now".

"Good idea. Talk to you again soon, I hope".


	2. Chapter 2

I stepped carefully into the hotel room, being careful not to disturb any fingerprints that may have been left on the door handle. As I took in the sparse furniture in the room, but especially the desk of solid oak against the other wall, over which a figure was slumped, a terrible wound in the back of her head, I sighed slightly. I was good at my job, but this part I hated the most. A young woman, two years older than me, stood nearby. “Alex. So glad you could make it. I take it you spoke with the manager, Mr. Stevens, already?”  
I nodded calmly as I walked over to join her. “Yes, he came over to greet me when I got here. Do we know who the victim is?”  
“Paytan Whitestone, an actress. She was renting this room for the week”.  
“Any indication of time of death?”  
“I’d say at some point between midnight and 2 am, but I can’t be completely sure”.  
“What about cause of death?” I queried.  
“Shot in the back of the head from close range. Nobody reported hearing any shots, so our killer would have had to have used a silencer. I don’t know what caliber the bullet is though. I’ll see what I can find once I get the body back to the morgue” Tania responded casually.  
“Fine. Just one more question”.  
“Shoot”.  
“Who emptied the wall-mounted safe in the corner over there?” I asked simply, gesturing to the safe in question, noting for future reference that the safe had been locked with an electronic keypad, not the rotary combination locks that were standard in most parts of New York.  
Tania shrugged in response. “I wish I could give you an answer. It was empty when I got here, and Mr. Stevens told me that the maid found it empty when she originally found the body this morning. Maybe our killer emptied it before leaving”.  
“I hope you’re right, Tania. Alright, I’m going to head back to the Precinct. Call me if anything comes up, will you?”  
“Of course”.  
-Back at the 12th Precinct, approximately half an hour later-  
Both of the Homicide-division detectives I worked with nodded a greeting at me as I sat down at my desk. “Lance, have CSU check Paytan Whitestone’s hotel room for prints. And run a check on her financials. I want to know if she has recently done anything worth killing her for”.  
Lance, a tall, fair-haired man with tanned skin, nodded. “Of course”.  
“Cassie?”  
The raven-haired young woman nodded as she walked over. “Yes, Alex?”  
“Contact Paytan’s next of kin, and get someone in to identify the body. Preferably a boyfriend, if she has one”.  
“I’ll get right on it. Oh, by the way, Captain Woods wanted to speak with you as soon as you got back”.  
“I’ll go speak with him now. Thanks for letting me know”.  
Cassie nodded, grinning slightly. “No problem”.  
-In Captain Wood’s office-  
As I stepped through the door of Captain Wood’s office, I instantly noticed the tall, slender, young woman with golden hair and brilliant blue eyes who was talking to him. “Captain? You wanted to see me?”  
He smiled slightly. “Ah, Detective. Fantastic timing, as usual. Louise, I’d like you to meet Alex Castle, one of our best homicide detectives. Detective, this is Louise Natalia Robins, a rookie robbery detective. She’s just been assigned to this case”.  
Louise extended her hand, grinning broadly. “So you’re Alex Castle. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you”.  
“You too, Detective Robins. I look forward to working with you on this case. Hopefully we can take this scumbag down”  
“I hope so too. And please… Call me Thalia. Or Louise, whichever” she replied.  
“Will do. Come on; let’s go get started”.  
“Lead the way!”  
As I walked back into the bullpen, as we referred to the area where our desks were, Cassie came running over to me. “Alex, I called Paytan’s mother as you requested. She’s on her way here now to identify the body, and she’ll be here in about fifteen minutes”.  
I nodded. I was just about to thank her for letting me know so quickly, when Louise spoke. “And what of Paytan’s father?” she queried.  
Cassie shot Louise an apprehensive look, as if wondering who the newcomer was, and then replied “She didn’t mention him. I got the impression that neither Paytan nor her mother had any idea who her (Paytan’s) father was”.  
“I see. By the way, Cassie, this is Detective Louise Robins. She’s going to be working on this case with us. Louise, this is Detective Cassandra Bates, my best friend, ex-girlfriend, and probably my closest confidant as well”.  
“Nice to meet you, Detective” Cassandra said, giving a slight smile, extending her hand in offer of a handshake.  
Louise smiled, accepting the offered handshake. “And the same to you”  
~15 minutes later~  
It was kind of surprising how fast the three of us had become friends. We were sitting around one of the desks (Cassie’s, judging by the lack of post-it notes on each drawer) going over possible theories about whom we thought could have done this. Louise pointed out that the person who had killed Paytan was likely to be the same person who had broken into the safe. That made sense. “On the other hand, until we get CSU reports from the crime scene, we can’t begin to come up with a list of suspects” I commented.  
At that very moment, the landline on Cassie’s desk rang. She grabbed it instantly. “Detective Bates”.  
She listened intently for a moment. “Alright, send her up. Thanks for letting me know”.  
She put the phone back down carefully. “Paytan’s mother just got here. They’re sending her up now. So, how do we want to approach this one?”  
I considered the question. Louise was a robbery detective, and not really likely to have any experience talking to the family of murder victims, so there was the risk that she might say something stupid. Cassandra was my best friend, and the two of us had done this a variety of times in the last couple of years. We worked together extremely well, and she had become just as good at comforting the families of murder victims as Lance or me. That’s probably what made my choice a no-brainer. “We’ll use the break room. I want you with me as usual on this one, Cassie”.  
“Of course”.  
-In the break room-  
“Please, take a seat, Mrs. Whitestone”.  
The older woman nodded at me, sinking into one of the room’s leather chairs. “Call me Marie”.  
“Very well then. I’m sorry for your loss. We both are”.  
I nodded to Cassandra, who pulled a couple of photos from a file in her lap and put them on the table between the three of us, tapping them with one slender finger. “Is that Paytan, your daughter?”  
Marie Whitestone leaned in to examine the photos, before nodding. “Yes. Yes, that’s her. God… What happened?”  
“She was found dead at the desk in her hotel room. She’d been shot in the back of the head”.  
She took a tissue from the box on the table next to the photos and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Oh. Who the hell would do something like this?”  
“That’s what we’re trying to find out, Marie. Can you think of anyone that might have reason to want to hurt her?” I queried.  
She appeared to consider the question. “Most people I know loved Paytan. But there were a few people who weren’t particularly happy with what she was doing in her spare time”.  
I raised an eyebrow at this. Beside me, Cassandra leaned closer, her curiosity piqued. “What was she doing?”  
“She was helping a pickpocket”.  
If I had had a coffee right at that moment, I would probably have choked on it. “Sorry, what?”  
“There’s this pickpocket named Vivian Maxwell that Paytan knows, and considers to be a close friend of hers. According to the little that Paytan told me, Vivian had recently decided to give up her life of crime in order to spend time with her younger sister, and my daughter was trying to help her to do that”.  
Cassandra nodded. “Did your daughter ever mention who these people happened to be?”  
“No names, sorry. She mentioned they were colleagues of hers, but that’s all she would tell me”.  
I glanced at Cassandra momentarily, and then nodded. “Good enough, I suppose”.  
I pulled a business card from my pocket and handed it to the woman. “If you think of anything else Paytan mentioned that might be of interest in this case, then please give me a call or email me or something. My contact details are on that card”.  
She accepted it, and then stood to go. “Make sure you get whoever did this, Detectives. Make them pay”.  
“We will, I swear it”.  
She walked out, heading straight for the elevator. Cassie and I glanced at each other quickly. “That was actually relatively informative, strangely enough. Louise and I will head down to the morgue and check to see what Tania and Alexis have found for us so far”.  
“Got it. I’ll talk to Paytan’s boyfriend when he gets here, see what, if anything, he can contribute that will help us to solve this case”.  
And with that agreed on, she tucked the two photos back into the file and the two of us left the room, each heading in a separate direction.


	3. 29 Years Ago

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick flashback to when Rick and Kate actually got engaged. This takes place around three years after the events of Season 5, assuming that nothing after Hunt is canon and they moved in together (and Kate never got offered the FBI job, because I hate that storyline with a passion).

\---29 years ago, the year 2016---  
-Detective Kate Beckett-  
Rick Castle was hiding something, she knew that much. The two of them had been together for about three years now, moved in together about a year ago, and he had been doing really well about not keeping any secrets from her so far (although at first the Paris thing had caused some friction between the two, they had moved past this and gotten on with their lives together). They told each other practically everything in their lives, and she knew that he would never deliberately do anything to hurt her. But then what was he acting so private, so secretive, about? And for that matter, why hadn’t he called her to let her know that he was going to be home late the night before? She tried to set aside the thoughts that were telling her to confront Castle about his strange behavior as she stepped out of the elevator at 9:30 in the morning and into the 12th Precinct, but it was so hard to. It was especially hard when she looked over at the break room and, through the glass windows, could see him talking to Detective Ryan. Almost as if Castle was letting him in on whatever he was planning. Sighing slightly to herself as she looked at the chair next to her desk, over which Castle had slung his jacket already, she pulled off her own jacket, slinging it over the edge of her own chair, and sat down. “What are you planning this time, Rick…? And why won’t you tell me anything? I’m supposed to be your girlfriend, after all…” she whispered.  
“Yo, Beckett!”  
The young woman looked up as her other fellow detective, Javier Esposito, approached. “What is it, Esposito?”  
“We’ve got another body. It’s a teenage boy, probably between 13 and 15 years old. Lanie’s at the crime scene now. She just called to tell me, and we both figured you might be interested in checking it out” was the reply from the Hispanic detective.  
“Alright, sounds like it might be interesting enough to take my mind off the thoughts of what Castle could be planning”.  
Esposito glanced around as Beckett finished speaking. “Speaking of which, where is Castle? He’s usually here by now” he queried.  
Beckett gestured to the break room. “In there, talking to Ryan about something”  
“Okay. I’ll tell them we’ve got a case and that you’re waiting, and Ryan and I will meet you and Castle there”  
“Cool”  
Beckett grabbed her jacket from where it had been slung over the back of her chair, quickly slipping it on. And all she had to do now was to wait for Castle…  
-Richard Castle-  
Rick took another sip of his coffee, almost smiling as he felt the liquid warming his insides as it slid down his throat. “So, you got any plans tonight, Castle?” Detective Ryan queried, setting his own cup of coffee down on the table between the two.  
Rick grinned in response. “Oh, yes. I have big, big, plans for tonight. If everything goes off as I’m currently expecting it to, I certainly won’t be merely Kate’s boyfriend for any longer…”  
His friend seemed taken aback by this. “You’re not planning to break her heart by breaking up with her, are you? Because in all seriousness, I’d probably have to kill you if you hurt her like that”  
Rick shook his head frantically. “No. No! I swear, Ryan, I would never do that to Kate! I love her more than anything else in the world!”  
“Then what are you doing?” the detective demanded, raising one eyebrow.  
The novelist tapped his fingers on his right-hand trouser pocket, indicating that there was something of great importance inside that very same pocket. Detective Kevin Ryan’s eyes widened immediately. “Are you serious? You’re going to ask her?”  
“Yes. I’m finally going to propose to her tonight, at my apartment… Say nothing of this to her. It has to be a complete surprise, alright?”  
“Agreed”  
It was then that Detective Esposito stepped into the room. “What’s up, guys?”  
“Castle’s going to ask Beckett to marry him tonight”  
“Oh, really? Congrats, bro, I’m pleased for ya. Where are you going to do it?”  
“Our apartment” Rick responded instantly, having spent several hours planning this night meticulously. He would not let it go wrong.  
“Does she know about this?”  
Rick smirked. “No. And it has to be kept a complete surprise until tonight”.  
Esposito nodded. “I understand completely. My lips are sealed. If I might ask… who else does know?”  
“Apart from the three of us… Well, there’s Lanie, Alexis, my mother, Kate’s father… oh, and Captain Gates knows as well”  
Ryan, who was taking a sip of coffee as Castle answered, spluttered and almost choked on the liquid. “Gates knows? Gates knows that you plan to propose to Beckett, and she hasn’t kicked you out of the Precinct? How is that even possible?” he gasped.  
Castle smiled knowingly in response. “Let’s just say that her character in the Nikki Heat series turns out to be a lot less weak and foolish than he first appears to be. And… well, you remember those two Gemini dolls that I broke during the case where it turned out the murdered girl was looking into her brother’s death? The one before Kate and I got involved with that murder case in the Hamptons? I may have found replacements of those same dolls for her”.  
“You clever dog…”  
Esposito smirked, turning for the door, before pausing and looking back at the two. “Oh, by the way, we have a case”  
Both Rick and Detective Ryan immediately stood, downing the rest of their coffees and placing the empty cups in the sink to wash later. “Who’s the vic?” Ryan queried calmly.  
“Our vic’s an unidentified white teenage boy, between the ages of 13 and 15. Lanie called from the crime scene about five minutes ago. Castle, Beckett’s waiting for you by her desk. Ryan and I will meet you two there”.  
The two glanced at each other, considering this, and then nodded. Rick grinned. “I do love investigating murders. Let’s go”.  
-Kate Beckett-  
On any normal day, it didn’t matter how she felt before she saw him. No matter the mood she was in, as she watched his handsome features slowly crossing the room to her, she couldn’t help but smile. She knew he cared very, very deeply about her, he had proven that with his years of assistance solving cases (which had been officially explained away as ‘research for his next book’, but had really just been an excuse for him to spend time with her). But today… No, there was just something odd about the whole thing. What on earth was he planning? “Kate?”  
His gentle voice startled her out of her thoughts, bringing her back to earth with a ‘bump’. “Kate, you okay?” he repeated.  
She turned to see him standing at the chair next to her desk, jacket on, and an impatient look on his face. She nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, Rick, I’m fine. I was just thinking. You know… about us”.  
He seemed to smile mysteriously at her words, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it had anything to do with what he was planning. “So was I. Come on, let’s get going. We have a crime scene to get to”.  
-9 hours and 25 minutes later-  
She was the last one to leave the Precinct, as usual. Rick had excused himself about an hour and a half before, Ryan and Esposito had left about 45 minutes ago, and the Captain had only just left to meet her husband for dinner. Kate Beckett was just finishing looking through some of the files that contained information relevant to their current case when her phone, which she had set on the desk next to her, rang quietly. She instantly picked it up, putting it to her ear. “Beckett”.  
She recognized the gentle voice of her boyfriend immediately. “Hi, Kate, it’s Rick. Do you think you can be home in half an hour, please? It’s really important”  
She nodded. “Of course, Rick. I’ll see you then”  
“Alright, see you soon. Oh, and Kate?”  
She smiled slightly. “Yes, Castle?”  
“I love you”  
“I love you too…”  
And with that, he hung up; leaving her to wonder what the heck was going on. But she had agreed to be there, and be there she would.  
-Half an hour later, at their penthouse loft apartment-  
Kate Beckett pushed open the door to the penthouse apartment that she and her boyfriend of three years shared and stepped inside; noticing immediately that the lights in his office and the upstairs ones had been turned off. “Rick, it’s me…” she said as casually as possible as she pulled the door closed.  
“Good”.  
She turned to her left just in time to see him step out of the kitchen, hands behind his back, and his usual smirk on his face. “Before you say anything, I just want you to know that I’m really, really, sorry I didn’t call you to let you know that I was going to be home late last night. But I can explain, I really can”  
“Please do”.  
I’ve been planning for tonight for a long time. There was actually something I had to ask someone close to you before I could put it all into play though” he explained simply.  
“Oh, really? And who would that be?”  
“I’m getting to that in a moment. But first…”  
He smiled slightly. “Do you remember Kyra Blaine?”  
His question puzzled her, she hated to admit it. “What’s your ex-girlfriend got to do with this, Castle?” she demanded.  
“Only one thing. After we solved the murder of Sophie, her bridesmaid, we attended her wedding. And you were the one that caught the bouquet”.  
“Yes, I did. And I also remember saying ‘Always a bridesmaid and never a bride’ during that same case, but I still don’t understand”.  
Rick sighed. “I can’t really blame you. I guess I should give less obscure clues… Anyway, the person I went to see last night was your father. There was something I had to ask him, to get his permission to do, before I knew that I was definitely going to do what I wanted to do tonight”.  
She had a pretty good idea of what he was saying now. There could only be one explanation. But, just to be sure, she would wait and see. Just to be absolutely, 100%, certain. As she was deep in thought, Castle knelt, pulling a small box from behind his back. “Kate”.  
She looked down at him from her standing position. “Rick”.  
The writer took a breath in, exhaled slowly, and then said “Kate, I’ve been in love with you since the day we first met. I just… I just never found the courage to say it until you were shot delivering that eulogy at Captain Montgomery’s funeral. You, and Alexis, are the two people I care about more than any other person I have ever worked with, or ever even known. She respects you greatly, you know… Anyway, I’m getting off-topic here… Kate, I want to be with you for the rest of my life, to wake up beside you every morning, and to fall asleep in the same bed as you every night. My heart is yours, to do with as you wish, and I can only hope that I can consider myself lucky enough to have your heart in return. Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me?”  
As he finished speaking, his left hand lifted the lid of the small box that sat in the palm of his hand, revealing a gorgeous, although still fairly simple, diamond ring. When he looked up again, Kate’s eyes were filled with tears, and when she next spoke, her joy was clear from the huge grin on her face. “Richard Castle, you are my favorite author, my best friend and my boyfriend. You are my one and done, and the only person who my heart will ever truly belong to. Of course I’ll marry you!”  
Quickly slipping the ring from the box, her fiancée slid it onto her finger before standing once more and kissing her. “And that, I believe, deserves to be celebrated the right way. With champagne!” Rick exclaimed, grinning as he pulled a bottle from the fridge and two glass tumblers from the cupboard, filling them expertly and handing one to his new fiancée, who, he was sure, had never looked more beautiful to him than right at that very moment.   
-End of flashback-


	4. Chapter 4

-In the morgue-  
As Louise and I stepped into the morgue, an older woman looked up from where she was standing, leaning over the body of Paytan Whitestone, smiling as she noticed me. “Alex! Good to see you again so soon”.  
I grinned back at her. “And it’s good to see you too, sis. Detective Robins, I’d like you to meet my sister, Alexis Castle, the deputy head of forensics”.  
“Half-sister” Alexis corrected grimly.  
I nodded. “Yes, half-sister. Sorry. Alexis, this is Detective Robins. She’s a rookie robbery detective assigned to my team while we work to solve Paytan’s murder”.  
Louise inclined her head slightly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Alexis”.  
Alexis smiled back at her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Detective. Any friend of Alex’s is a friend of mine. Anyway… are we going to just stand around talking, or do you actually want to know what Tania and I found?”  
I gestured to the table where Paytan Whitestone’s body lay. “What did you find? Is there anything of relevance to our case?”  
That’s when Tania walked in. “We managed to narrow time of death down to between 12:30 and 1 am. So that’s your window”.  
“So she was killed sometime within half an hour of 12:30. Hopefully, CSU can help us to narrow it down further. Or maybe we’ll get lucky and find someone who saw her, alive, in that general timeslot”.  
Tania nodded and turned to the body, indicating the terrible wound on the back of the head. “Quite. As you can see, the cause of death was a single GSW to the back of the head. The bullet was a .45 caliber”.  
“I see. Any powder residue or muzzle burns?”  
“None at all, Alex. This killer knew what they were doing”.  
“Alright, thank you. You’ll let us know if you find anything else?” I queried.  
“Always do, don’t we? See you later then”.  
As Detective Robins and I left the morgue, she turned to me. “Can I ask you something?”  
“I thought you just did. But yeah, go ahead. What do you want to know?”  
“Are all your cases like this?”  
“Most of them tend to start out like this, yeah. But once we start to find evidence leading to our suspects, things eventually start to make sense” I replied evenly.  
“Right… Anyway, I have one other question”.  
“Ask away, then”.  
“How can Alexis be your half-sister? She looks so much older than you”  
I laughed. “Yes, Alexis is older than me. By 25 years, in fact. And yes, she is my half-sister. My father’s first marriage was to a woman named Meredith, around 15 years before he met my mother. Alexis is his daughter from that marriage, and, when my father and Meredith divorced three years later, my father got sole custody of her. So yeah, that’s how she can be my half-sister”.  
“That’s pretty interesting. So, what do we do now?” Louise queried.  
As I was about to respond, my cell-phone rang. Sighing, I pulled it from my pocket and tapped a key, putting it to my ear. “Yes, this is Alex”.  
“Alex, its Lance. CSU reports came back on Paytan Whitestone’s hotel room”.  
“What did they find?”  
“Practically nothing but fingerprints, of which there were none on anything but the safe, which they found three different sets of prints on”.  
I grinned. This was exactly what I had been talking about when I answered Louise’s first question. “Whose are they?”  
“One set belongs to Paytan Whitestone herself, another belongs to a colleague of hers. The third is of a known pickpocket and safecracker by the name of Vivian Maxwell”.  
“Did you find anything in Paytan’s financials?”  
“Her financials are clean, or at least so far they appear to be. There don’t seem to be any unusual withdrawals or deposits, and she wasn’t having any money problems”.  
At this news, I smiled slightly. We were slowly getting closer to solving this case… “Well, do you have any good news? Anything at all?”  
“Of course, I was just getting to that. Paytan’s boyfriend showed up. Cassandra’s talking to him as we speak”.  
“Better. And do we have a location for Vivian Maxwell?”  
On the other side of the phone, Lance nodded. “A small, two-bedroom, house in the south-east of the Bronx. Sending you the address now”.  
“Keep me informed”.  
“Wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise” came the reply, Lance hanging up just a few seconds later.  
Switching my phone off and putting it back into my pocket, I turned to Louise, grinning. “Well, it looks like we just got our first lead. Come on, let’s go find this Vivian Maxwell, see what she has to tell us about why her fingerprints were found on the safe in Paytan’s hotel room”.


	5. Chapter 5

~Cassandra Angela Bates~  
He was waiting for me in the lounge. I sat down in the chair across from him, putting a couple of photographs down on the small table between the two of us. “You’re Paytan’s boyfriend, right?” I queried.  
He nodded. “Yes. Well… ex-boyfriend now, I suppose, but yes, that’s me. My name’s Richie Stanton”.  
“I am so sorry for your loss. We need to get this over with, though” I said simply, before gesturing to the two photographs on the desk.  
“Is that Paytan?”  
He examined the photos briefly, then looked up, eyes filled with tears. “Yes… Yes, that’s her”.  
I nodded slightly. “That confirms what we already thought. Mr. Stanton, I’m sorry I have to ask this, but can you think of anyone who might have had reason to hurt your girlfriend?”  
“Now that I think about it, she did meet a colleague at a local coffee shop just a couple of days ago. But when she came home, she was in tears”.  
This is getting interesting… “Did she say who this colleague was?”  
“No, sorry. All she would say to me was that they had gotten into a shouting match in the middle of the coffee shop, and the colleague was eventually forced to leave by store security”.  
“And the name of this coffee shop?”  
He shrugged in response. “She wouldn’t say, sorry. All she would say about the coffee shop is that it was fairly local, and that there was a 15-year old girl working part-time there”  
“That’s most helpful. I’ll get someone on it right away. Now… where were you last night?”  
“Why? You don’t really believe I could have had anything to do with my girlfriend’s death, do you?”  
I merely smiled gently. I honestly doubted that he had had anything to do with Paytan’s murder, but it was better to be 100% sure. “At this point in the case, we can’t really be sure of anything. Did you have anything to do with Paytan’s murder?”  
“God… No! I… I can’t believe you’d accuse me of such a thing. The two of us were in love. I… I was even going to ask her to marry me in three weeks, on her 27th birthday. I just can’t believe anyone would do this to her…” he protested.  
“So I’ll ask again. Where were you last night?”  
“At what time?”  
“Between 12:30 and 1:00 am” I replied evenly.  
He seemed to think deeply, as if remembering. “I was at a charity fundraiser, helping to raise money to help the poor in India. I was there until at least 2:00 am. I would have taken Paytan with me, but she said she had to finish going over the script she had been given for a new movie she’d been cast in”.  
“I’ll need a number so that I can confirm it”.  
He nodded, taking a small card from the inside pocket of his jacket and passing it to me. “That’s the number of the couple who organized it. They’ll tell you everything you need to know”.  
I tucked it securely into my pocket, and then stood, shaking his hand. “Thank you for your time, we’ll be in touch if we happen to find anything. Try not to leave town until then, okay?”  
He merely grinned in reply. “I look forward to hearing from you”.  
And with that, he turned and left.  
“That was a lot more fruitful than I expected it to be. Guess I’ll call the charity organizers to see if they can confirm his alibi, and then go check with Lance to see what he’s found out”.  
~Alexander Castle~  
-Vivian Maxwell’s house-  
As I stopped on the side of the road just in front of the address we had been given, and the two of us quickly stepped out, Louise looked at me. “So this is the place, huh? Certainly fits the description of a house you’d expect a pickpocket to live in” she commented.  
“Apparently so. Alright, let’s get this over with and get out of here as quickly as possible. I hate this neighborhood already…”  
Walking quickly to the door, I knocked three times, resting my right hand on the handgun at my side. When a 17-year old girl answered the door, I inclined my head slightly. “Vivian Maxwell?”  
“Maybe. Who are you?”  
“NYPD. I’m Detective Alexander Castle, Homicide. And this is Detective Louise Robins, Robbery. Can we come in?” I replied simply.  
“Why?”  
I tapped the gun at my side with two fingers, impatient. “We need to talk to you about a young woman by the name of Paytan Whitestone, who was found murdered this morning”.  
I was watching her intently as I spoke, and she seemed to flinch at my words. Something that reassured me somewhat, since I would probably have been more suspicious if she’d reacted calmly. “And what does this have to do with me?” she demanded impatiently.  
I smiled slightly. “The wall safe in her hotel room was found broken open and empty, and your fingerprints were one of the three sets of prints found on it”  
She opened the door fully at those words, gesturing into the hallway behind her. “I guess you had better come in, then…”  
I stepped over the threshold into the quiet house, Louise automatically following me. Walking quickly down the small hallway, I waited until the three of us were seated in the small, quite sparsely-decorated, lounge area before I spoke again.   
“Did you know Paytan Whitestone?”  
“Yes, I did know her”  
“What was the exact nature of your relationship with her?”  
“We were friends. She was trying to help me”.  
“Trying to help you how, exactly?” Louise demanded.  
“I had recently decided to give up pickpocketing so that I could actually do something good with my life, and so that I could be there to keep my younger sister, Lexi, safe. Paytan was… She was doing her best to try and help me turn my life around”.  
“What made you decide to give up pickpocketing?” Louise queried, more curious now than suspicious.  
“That was on the advice of my legal guardian, Darlene McGowan. She is constantly reminding me that I already have two strikes against my name, one for breaking and entering and one for assault, and that a third would land me in big trouble. I finally realized that, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t justify taking the risk, not when I have to be here to make sure my sister doesn’t go down the same road as I did”.  
“Then why did we find your fingerprints on the safe in Paytan’s hotel room?” I demanded.  
“I have no idea. Perhaps they were planted by an enemy of mine, or someone who generally dislikes me and, knowing of my record, decided to get me in trouble. The only places Paytan and I ever saw each other were in this very house or at the local coffee shop”.  
I sighed. This was very informative, but it was time to get to the heart of the matter, the two questions I wanted to ask more than any other. “When did you last see Paytan Whitestone?”  
“Two nights ago, at The Bean Bag”.  
“And where were you this morning, between 12:30 and 1:00 am?”  
“I was right here. Lexi hasn’t been feeling well lately, so I sat with her until 9:30 pm last night, when she fell asleep. Darlene got here half an hour later, and we talked until 11:30 pm, when I went to bed myself. I woke up at 6:10 am and she was still here, and the two of us talked over coffee until Lexi woke up about an hour later, which was when she left”.  
“I’m going to need Darlene’s phone number so I can confirm that” I said simply.  
“Of course. Can I borrow a pen for a moment?”  
Nodding, I reached into my pocket, handing the girl one of the pens I carried around with me at all times. “Certainly”  
She reached for the pad of paper on the coffee table next to the chair on which she was sitting, scribbling a couple of numbers down before tearing the top sheet off and handing it to me, returning my pen as well. “There you go”.  
I nodded gratefully, accepting the paper, before folding it up and slipping it into my pocket, along with the pen which she had returned to me. “Thank you for your time. We’ll be in touch if we have any further questions. You had better not leave town until this case is over, just in case”.  
“I’ll keep that in mind”.  
“Good. Then that concludes our business here. We’ll show ourselves out”.  
-Several minutes later-  
As we stepped over the threshold and onto the sidewalk outside, I shook my head, sighing slightly. “What did you think, Louise?” I queried.  
“Call it a robbery detective’s instinct, but I’d say she had nothing to do with the murder. However, she could still have had something to do with the safe being found opened and empty”.  
I raised an eyebrow. “What of her alibi?”  
“One of convenience. The hotel where the body was found is only about forty-five minutes walk from here. Unless this Darlene checked on Vivian Maxwell every hour or so between the time that she claimed to fall asleep and the time that she claimed that she woke up, and she was there every time, then I don’t think her alibi can be used to do anything other than prove that she was at least an accessory in the crime”.  
“An interesting theory indeed. Highly doubtful, but, regardless, an interesting theory. Practically nothing that can be used as evidence was found by CSU in the hotel room, and the only thing that marked Vivian as even having a presence in the hotel room were her fingerprints on the safe. Certainly not anything that would mark the person who cracked the safe as having walked for forty-five minutes or longer to get there”.  
“Then what do you think?”  
I grinned at her, pulling my phone and the small sheet of paper from my pocket. “I think I have a phone call to make and an alibi to check. And then… I think we’ll grab something to take away from Remy's, head back to the Precinct, and talk about the case over lunch with the others”.


	6. Chapter 6

~Alex Castle~  
I sighed, tapping my fingers impatiently against the top of my car as I leaned against it, intent on the cell-phone call that I was making. “I see… Look, is there any way that you might have forgotten to check on her at any point?” I queried.  
The response I received to my question threw me off guard for a second, though I wouldn’t admit that to anyone. “Really? You did?”  
I listened intently for a little longer, and then nodded. “Okay. That’s what I thought, it’s just that this is a case of some importance that we are working on here, and I just had to make sure. Very well, then. Thank you so much for your time, I’ll be sure to call you if I have any further questions”  
Again, I listened intently for a few seconds. “Yes, we will be sure to catch the person who did this. Have a good day, alright? Goodbye”  
And with that, I hung up, sliding my phone quickly back into my jacket pocket and hopping back into my car. The robbery detective assigned to help my team out on this case looked at me as I sighed audibly, and, for the first time that day (though it would certainly not be the last time), I found myself wondering why they would assign a rookie robbery detective, with no prior experience whatsoever, to work beside one of the Homicide divisions best teams on this case. “Well?”  
“Vivian Maxwell had nothing to do with it. Her alibi is rock solid”.  
“Darlene confirmed that she was there all night?”  
“Yes. In fact, Darlene checked up on her every half an hour, just to make sure that she hadn’t caught the same illness as her sister had. So it looks to me like a new theory is needed”.  
“So, what do we do now?” she demanded.  
“Like I said earlier. We go back to the Precinct, grab something to take away from Remy’s, and discuss our next move over lunch with the others. I just hope Cassandra’s having better luck than we are…”  
~Cassandra Angela Bates~  
Luckily for me, the charity event the previous night had been big news. Some of the biggest names in New York had been there, and there had been accounts of the party, including the names of the couple who had organized it, in many different papers. I quickly pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed the number that Richie Stanton had given me, smiling once I heard a young woman’s voice answering. “Yes?”  
“Hi, this is Detective Cassandra Bates. Am I speaking with Carrie Holloway?”  
“That’s me. What can I do for you, Detective?”  
“I was just wondering if you might be able to tell me how long a man named Richie Stanton was at last night’s event”.  
“I’m not sure, but I can certainly check for you. Do you mind holding for a moment?”  
I smiled. “Sure, no problem”  
She must have put the phone down on a table, because I could suddenly hear the sound of humming, and of someone reaching upwards, as if trying to take something from a higher shelf. I fingered the chain of the locket around my neck as I waited patiently, and, after a couple of minutes, I could hear her pick up the phone again. “Thanks for being so patient, Detective”.  
I nodded. “If it gets me the answers I need, then I’m always happy to be patient. Do you have an answer for me?”  
“I believe I do, yes. Richie Stanton came in at 10:50 last night, about ten minutes before the event itself officially started, and didn’t leave until after 2:00 this morning. Does that answer your question?”  
In other words, his alibi checks out. I suspected as much… “It does indeed. Thank you very much for your co-operation”.  
“No problem, I’m glad I could help”.  
And with that, she hung up. As I switched my phone off and slid it back into my pocket, I sighed audibly. “This is going to be a long case…”  
And with those words, it was time to go find Lance, who, I figured, would want to know that Richie Stanton’s alibi had checked out. Meaning we were down a suspect. And, if Alex and Louise had had as much luck as me, then that just took another suspect out of the loop as well. We were getting closer and closer to the truth by the minute, I could tell. And yet, we were still so far away from it…  
-Several minutes later-  
I entered the small room where we did most of our tech analysis work, immediately noting that Lance and Mélanie were both there, looking intently at one of the computer screens on the far wall. I sat down in one of the few spare chairs that were in the room, coughing quietly to alert the two to my presence. “Did Richie Stanton’s alibi check out?” Lance queried, turning in his chair to face me as he spoke.  
I nodded. “Yeah, it did. He was at last night’s charity event from 10:50 pm until after 2:00 am, as he originally claimed, which is well after the time at which Paytan Whitestone was murdered”  
It was at that moment that Lance’s phone rang. Sighing, he pulled it out and glanced at the screen, before smiling slightly and tapping a couple of keys, and then placing the phone on the desk in front of us. “You’re on speaker, Alex. What news?”  
“It’s official. Vivian Maxwell had nothing to do with this case at all” Alex said simply.  
He sounded almost as frustrated as I felt. “Her alibi checked out, then?” I queried.  
“Her house is around forty-five minutes away from the hotel where Paytan was found, and her legal guardian checked on her every thirty minutes, so there’s no way she could get there and back in time to still be able to fool her legal guardian. So yes, her alibi checked out” he responded.  
I nodded. “Yeah, the same happened with Richie Stanton’s alibi. Carrie Holloway confirmed he was at last night’s charity event until well after our window”.  
There was silence for a few minutes as the four of us digested this information and the fact that two of our suspects had already been cleared of any suspicion.  
“So… We’re basically at a dead end, then?” Mélanie queried eventually, though her eyes never left the screen that she was looking at.  
Alex sighed audibly. “I’m not ready for us to admit defeat so soon in the case, Mel. We still have a couple of things that we can use to our advantage. For one, we know that Paytan frequented the ‘Bean Bag’, the local coffee shop. For another, we have that fingerprint on the safe that we identified as belonging to one of Paytan’s colleagues. For a third, we’ve crossed two suspects off our list. So we may be at a loss for suspects right now, but as soon as we find out whether Paytan met anyone else at the Bean Bag or not, we’ll be back on track. And we’ve very seldom had two suspects cleared of any involvement whatsoever in any of our cases within the first five hours. Maybe we’ll even be done with this case by the end of the day” he commented, a measure of his usual cheerfulness creeping back into his voice.  
I could tell he was already smiling in anticipation, deciding what he would do with the rest of the evening once we were done with the case. “Is that all you’ve got for us?” Lance queried.  
“Actually, there is just one more thing. Louise and I are on our way back to the Precinct from Vivian Maxwell’s house now, and I was thinking we might grab something for the five of us from Remy’s on our way back, and then discuss the case while we eat. You guys want anything in particular?”  
-Forty-five minutes later-   
I was deep in thought as I stared at the evidence we had put on the (actually quite large) whiteboard that we had set up near to Lance’s desk in the area we referred to as the bullpen, fiddling with the chain of my locket with my right hand as I did so. Behind me, the sound of the elevator doors dinging open brought me back to my senses, and I turned just in time to see Alex stepping through them, holding a medium-sized brown paper bag in one hand, as he used his free hand to hold the door open to allow Louise to come through it. “Where are we going to eat?” I could hear her querying.  
Alex laughed, indicating the first door on the right as they passed it. “We’ll eat in the break room, of course. Tell you what, why don’t you make sure there’s enough room at one of the tables in there for five people to sit comfortably. I’ll tell the others, and meet you in there” he replied calmly.  
“Sure, no problem”  
~Alex Castle~  
-About ten minutes later-  
The five of us sat around one of the bigger tables in the break room, talking idly as we ate. “So, what’s our next move?” Louise questioned.  
I considered the question carefully before responding. “Once we finish eating, I’m going to head over to the Bean Bag and see what I can find out about the time that Paytan Whitestone spent there. Lance, can you run the third print that CSU found on the safe in Paytan’s room, perhaps get us an id?”  
“Of course”  
“Louise and I will contact the film company that Paytan was working with on her latest film and see if we can get a list of the people who were working on the same film” Cassandra said quickly.  
I smiled gratefully at her. “Good. Then we can cross-reference that with the information I get from the Bean Bag, see what names pop out at us, and then narrow the rest down fairly quickly from there”.  
“And what do you want me to do, Alex?” Mélanie asked.  
I grinned at the young intern. “Actually, Mel, I’d like you to come with me on this one”.


	7. Chapter 7

~Lance~  
We’d finished eating lunch, which we had all devoured fairly quickly, and from there the five of us had gone our separate ways. Mélanie and Alex had taken the elevator down to the garage on the ground floor, from where they would take Alex’s car over to ‘The Bean Bag’. Cassandra and Louise had busied themselves at Cassandra’s desk, preparing to make the phone call to the film company Paytan was working with, and I had headed back down to the room where we did our tech work, in order to see if I could manage to get us an id on that third set of fingerprints which had been found. If we were lucky, the prints would give us the evidence we needed to close this case today. If we were unlucky… Well, it would just prove to be another false lead. We’d had enough of those during our last four cases to last us a lifetime, so it would be good if we didn’t have any more of them for a long time to come. Quickly slipping into the chair I had vacated only a short while ago, I tapped a few keys, beginning to open up the windows that would be necessary to run the scan that would id the fingerprint for us. God, I loved this job…  
~Cassandra~  
“Do you mind if I ask you a question, Cassandra?” Louise queried.  
I laughed slightly. “Please, just call me Cassie. And sure you can. What do you want to know?”  
“What is Alex Castle, the son of one of New York’s greatest mystery writers, doing in the NYPD’s Homicide Division?” she demanded.  
I paused briefly to consider the response I was about to give, recalling what Alex had often said whenever the question had been brought up, before giving her an answer. “According to him, he enjoys the knowledge that each day brings us something new to solve, the feeling of pride that we get after we’ve managed to solve a particularly long, hard, case, and the relief of knowing that we have been responsible for getting justice for those who otherwise would never get it. Plus his mother’s a former NYPD Homicide Detective herself, so that probably at least partly influenced his decision” I said simply.  
“She is?”  
I was actually honestly quite shocked to hear her response, since I had believed that everyone knew who Alex’s mother was. But apparently that belief was not true at all. I nodded slightly. “Yeah, she is. Kate Castle, who, before her marriage to Richard Castle, was formerly known as Detective Kate Beckett. She was the youngest woman to ever make the rank of detective, she and her husband were responsible for the arrest of Senator William Bracken (on various charges, including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, extortion, and corruption) 25 years ago, and she was the inspiration for the character of Detective Nikki Heat in Richard Castle’s series of the same name”.  
“I see. Yes, I suppose that would make sense. And what about you? What happened to lead you down this path?”  
“I actually used to work for the DA’s office. I was assigned to act as a liaison between Alex’s team and the DA’s office during a particularly frustrating case, and eventually decided that that was what I really wanted to do. Not just sitting around, arguing about cases, lawyers, evidence, witnesses and courts. Actually getting out there, into the city, looking at the crime scenes, doing the hard work to solve cases. You know, actually doing something to make a difference in the city. That’s what I really wanted to do with my life. So, Captain Tom Woods helped me to transfer here, and I’ve been working with Alex and Lance ever since” I replied thoughtfully.  
“I’m guessing one of them gave you that locket you’re wearing, then?”  
I smiled slightly, once again fingering the chain around my neck. Trying my hardest to ignore the thoughts that it brought up; the thoughts about how much I missed dating Alex Castle. Trying… and failing miserably. “You’d be right. It was a gift from Alex on my 25th birthday, shortly after I transferred here. Anyway… I suppose we should get on with making that phone call to the film company that Paytan was working with before she was killed”.  
~Alex~  
Stepping out of the car outside ‘The Bean Bag’, I couldn’t help but remember the last time I had been here, exactly a month before. The day I’d met Claire Whitfield…  
\--One month ago--   
I entered the coffee shop, smiling reflectively as the small bell over the door chimed to announce my entrance, “Hi, Alex! Let me guess, your usual extra-frothy triple-shot latte with two marshmallows on top?” the girl at the counter smiled, greeting me cheerfully.  
I couldn’t help but grin back at her as I walked over, immediately spotting that the table I usually sat at, against the wall on the right hand side of the room, was free. Good… “You know me too well, Jennifer. Not that I’m complaining, of course. And yes, that would be fantastic, thank you”  
I paid quickly, sinking into the soft leather of the wall-length couch behind the table I usually sat at, and it wasn’t long before someone approached me. “Excuse me… Is this seat taken?”  
I couldn’t help but glance up, biting back a gasp as I noticed that the speaker was an extraordinarily beautiful young woman, whose raven-black hair was a perfect match to her stormy grey eyes. I shook my head, gesturing to the empty couch on my right. “Not at all”  
As she sat down on the couch next to me, she smiled gratefully. “It’s nice to see that some people still know how to be good-natured in this day and age” she said wistfully.  
I smiled back at her. “It certainly is. I’m Alex, by the way. Alex Castle. And you are?”  
“It’s nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Claire”  
\--Present Day--  
As Mel and I entered the small coffee shop, I smiled at the sound of the bell over the door chiming quietly. “This place hasn’t changed at all over the last month…” I muttered.  
“Alex!”  
I looked up, waving cheerfully to the girl behind the counter as Mel and I walked over. “It’s good to see you, Jennifer. This is Mélanie, who’s working at the Precinct as an intern at the moment”  
“It’s nice to meet you, Mélanie. And it’s good to see you too, Alex. Do you want your usual?” she replied.  
I shook my head. “Strictly business today, I’m afraid. We’re actually in the middle of a case involving a murdered actress by the name of Paytan Whitestone. What can you tell us about her?”  
Jennifer considered the question carefully before responding. “She came in at around the same time every two days, ordered the same type of coffee, sat at the same table. Most of the time when she sat there she was alone, though occasionally she was joined at her table by someone or other. Sometimes it was a 17-year old girl, sometimes one or two of her colleagues”  
And that was when I remembered something that Cassandra had mentioned over lunch. Something that Richie Stanton had apparently told her while she was interviewing him. “Did she happen to get into a shouting match with any of the other customers in the past couple of days?”  
Jennifer seemed to consider the question briefly, and then nodded. “Yeah, actually, she did. A couple of days ago, she met the 17-year old girl here. They talked quietly for a while, as if they were sealing some sort of deal, and then the girl left, which was mere minutes before one of Paytan’s colleagues showed up and confronted her. If I remember correctly, Paytan’s colleague accused her of ‘taking more than her fair share of the fame and glory’, and warned her that no-one’s star lasted forever and that, before long, Paytan would pay for what she’d done. Paytan curtly dismissed it, the colleague got mad, and the two of them got into a yelling match that ended with the colleague being forcibly escorted out of the store, and Paytan leaving in tears” she said thoughtfully.  
I raised an eyebrow. This just got more and more interesting… “I’ll need the names of both of Paytan’s colleagues who met her here”  
“I’m sorry, but, when they did mention each other in conversation, they only referred to each other by their first names. Will that do?”  
“It will have to. So, what are their names, then?”  
“Graham and Ophelia”  
~Lance~  
I stared at the screen, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. “It’s a partial. The third print that CSU recovered is nothing but a fucking partial. I can’t run a fingerprint id program with a fucking partial! How the fucking hell did CSU not spot something this fucking major before?” I cursed.  
Scowling now, I pulled my phone from my pocket and composed a very brief message to Alex. This was most definitely going to set back plans that any of us might have had for the evening ahead.  
~Alex~  
My phone chimed quietly as I thanked Jennifer for her help. I sighed, pulling it out and glancing at the small screen. I’d received two new text messages within seconds of each other. One was from Lance, and simply said ‘Disaster. Third print a partial’. The second… It was longer, from my father, and read ‘Something happened to your mother. Come to New York Presbyterian Hospital right away; mention the name Katherine Houghton Castle to the nurse at the front desk when you get here. I’ll fill you and Alexis in when I see you - Rick’.  
My only thought upon reading the second message? Shit.


	8. Chapter 8

~Alex~  
I cursed under my breath as I slipped my phone back into my pocket. Just when we were starting to actually make a decent bit of progress on this case… “Thanks again for your help, Jennifer. Mélanie, we have to go. Now”  
She gave me a confused look. “Where do we have to go?” she queried.  
“New York Presbyterian Hospital. We have to meet my father there. Something’s happened to my mother”  
As we said our farewells to Jennifer, and walked back out of the coffee shop towards where I had parked just minutes earlier, I pulled my phone from my pocket again. I had to let the others know about this…  
~Richard Castle~  
-New York Presbyterian Hospital-  
I stared down at my hands as I sat in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting for news of the woman I had fallen in love with, the woman who I had married on the 27th of August, in 2018…  
\--27th August, 2018--  
It was a perfect summer’s day in the Hamptons, and the large strip of grass behind the beach house that Kate and I owned was crowded with people, every single one of them there to help us celebrate the most important day of our lives. “Yo, Castle!”  
I looked up, seeing Javier Esposito, one of my best friends, walking across the grass towards me. I grinned, unable to contain my excitement for much longer. “Who would have thought Kate and I would ever get to this point in our relationship, my friend? At first, she absolutely hated the fact that I was there. She just couldn’t stand me. Then we were best friends for three years, during which time she dated both Tom Demming and Dr. Motorcycle Boy, then we finally started dating after the Maddox case. Three years later, I finally asked her to marry me. And here we are now, two years after that. The day we’ve been looking forward to for so long is finally here”  
He nodded, putting a friendly hand on my shoulder. “So, what will the newspapers end up reporting about today? Anything controversial?” he queried.  
I chuckled. “Probably. They always manage to find a way to make everything that little bit more controversial than it actually is, wouldn’t surprise me if they managed to do the same in this case as well”.  
He smiled, responding. “Nor would it surprise me. Now come on. You need to finish getting ready, and then start talking to the guests. And I need to finish making sure that everything’s ready”.  
-Two hours later-  
I stood there, next to Kate, with more than thirty pairs of eyes watching us. Judge Marchbanks, who had agreed to officiate the wedding, was speaking, although most of my attention was focused on the amazing woman in front of me, and how incredibly important she had become to me over the past 9 years. Finally, Judge Marchbanks gestured to me. ”I, Richard Castle, take you, Katherine Beckett to be my wife, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust you and honor you; I will laugh with you and cry with you. I will love you faithfully through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy. What may come I will always be there. As I have given you my hand to hold so I give you my life to keep. So help me God” I said calmly, looking directly at Kate, my eyes never leaving hers.  
Satisfied, he turned to Kate. “If you would”.  
She swallowed hard. I could tell she was nervous, and truth be told so was I, but all that mattered was that we had finally made it. And this… this was the start of something fantastic. “I, Katherine Beckett, take you, Richard Castle to be my husband, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust you and honor you; I will laugh with you and cry with you. I will love you faithfully through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy. What may come I will always be there. As I have given you my hand to hold so I give you my life to keep. So help me God” she responded.  
He nodded. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride”.  
And with that, I leaned forward, enveloping her lips in a passionate kiss as all of our friends started cheering simultaneously. “I love you, Kate…”  
\--Present Day--  
The sound of hushed voices and hurried footsteps brought back from my memories, as Alex came running into the waiting room, followed a couple of seconds later by a girl who looked to be only about seven years younger than him, as well as Alexis and the woman that she worked with in the morgue. “Dad, what the hell happened? Is she alright?” he queried, running over to me right away.  
~Alex~  
My father nodded. “Your mother’s going to be fine, Alex. Some idiot attempted to rob The Old Haunt while we were there. Typical for stick-up artists, he didn't bother to think that one of the people in the bar at the time might just so happen to be an ex-detective, and was caught off guard when she drew her handgun. Unfortunately, he managed to escape, though not before shooting your mother in the shoulder”.  
I muttered something. “Damn…”  
“Anyway, aren’t you going to introduce me?” he queried.  
I smirked slightly. Trust my dad to want to meet new people, even under circumstances such as this. “Oh, sorry, Dad, this is Mélanie. She’s interning at the Precinct. Mélanie, this is Richard Castle, my father”.  
My father smiled slightly. “Nice to meet you, Mélanie”.  
“Nice to meet you too. Pity it couldn't be under less pleasant circumstances”.  
“I completely agree”  
That was when a doctor stepped through the large double doors on the side of the waiting room closest to where we were sitting, casting his eyes around the waiting room impatiently. “Is there a Mr. Richard Castle here?”  
My father nodded as he got to his feet. “Is Kate alright?”  
“Your wife is stable. She suffered a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. We had to operate to remove the bullet fragments, and she did lose a fair bit of blood. But barring any complications, she should be just fine”.  
“Oh, thank god... Can we see her?”  
“Of course. Family only for now, though. The rest of you can see her later on”.  
Tania smiled slightly. “Alex, Alexis, Mr. Castle, you guys go ahead. Mélanie and I will wait for the others”.  
“You sure, Tania?” I queried.  
She nodded. “You need to see her. You’re not going to feel any better until you do. Go”.  
“Thank you”.  
And with that, Alexis and I stood, joining my father and following the doctor down the hall. We walked in silence, none of us really knowing what to say, until, after what had been only a couple of minutes, he turned to a door and pulled it open, gesturing for us to step inside. As we did so, he followed us in, pulling the door shut behind us. “Well, there you go. I’ll give you all some time to be alone with her, if you’d like”.  
My father nodded wordlessly, and eventually it was Alexis who said precisely what the three of us were thinking. “That would be good, thank you, Dr…”  
“Franks. Dr. Edmond Franks” he replied calmly, before pushing the door open once more and stepping through it, leaving us alone with my mother.  
She lay there, asleep, in the bed which took up most of the space on one wall. Her face was almost deathly pale, due to the blood-loss that Doctor Franks had mentioned, and her exhaustion was plain to see from the bags under her eyes. I had steeled myself for the worst before I had entered the room, being prepared to see a vast variety of tubes surrounding her, but all there really seemed to be was an IV. Good. I hated seeing my mother like this. She was the strongest person I knew. But seeing her lying there, on that hospital bed, damn near terrified me. As Alexis and I took a seat on the couch that sat against the wall, my father leaned over the hospital bed, brushing my mother’s hair away from her eyes with a gentle hand. Almost instantly, her eyes flicked open, and her lips curved back into a gentle smile. “Hey…”


	9. Chapter 9

~Alex~  
“Kate. How do you feel?” my father queried.  
“Aside from a searing pain in my shoulder, surprisingly I don’t feel too bad at all. I am woozy from the blood loss though” she responded.  
She looked over towards where I was sitting with Alexis, giving the two of us what was clearly an attempt at a warm smile. “Get over here, you two”.  
I couldn’t resist a slight smile as Alexis and I got up and walked over. There was definitely something of her usual commanding tone in her voice, and it was rather comforting to know that, beneath her wounded and fragile exterior, she was still the same person inside. That comforted me, at least a little. “I’m glad to see that you’re alright” I said simply.  
“Believe me, so am I. Now, why don’t the two of you tell me about your latest case? I’m sure it’s an interesting one, and maybe your father and I can help you try to make sense of the evidence that you have” she suggested idly.  
I nodded. “Sounds good to me”  
I pulled a chair up to the side of my mother’s bed and sank into it, taking a deep breath before starting to talk about the case we were currently investigating. “Do you remember Paytan Whitestone?” I queried.  
“The actress who’s dating the athlete Richie Stanton?” my father returned.  
I merely nodded. Good, so my father did still pay attention to celebrity gossip. That was reassuring, at least. “Well, she was dating him, anyway. She’s the victim. One of the maids at the Sunview Hotel found her dead in her hotel room this morning, shot in the back of the head. And the wall safe (which had a keypad lock instead of one of the usual rotary combination locks) in the room had been broken open and emptied”.  
“Have you managed to narrow down the time of death?” my mother queried, directing this question at Alexis, who had taken a seat next to our father.  
She smiled slightly. “She was killed at some point between 12:30 and 1:00 am. We can’t get any closer than that, unless we somehow manage to find someone who saw her alive at some point in that time slot”  
“And who are the suspects?” Kate asked, turning her attention back to me.  
“There’s her boyfriend, a pickpocket and safecracker, and two of her colleagues. It has to be one of the colleagues though. Both the boyfriend and the pickpocket (a girl by the name of Vivian Maxwell) have alibied out. And unfortunately for us, the alibis that they have given us are solid”.’  
“What did they tell you?”  
“Richie Stanton, her boyfriend, was at last night’s charity event from around 10:50 last night until after 2:00 am. Cassie told me that she spoke with Carrie Holloway, one of the couple who hosted the event last night, who confirmed that Mr. Stanton was there as long as he claimed to be. Vivian Maxwell was at home all night, from at least before 9:30 last night until probably somewhere around 7:10 am today” I responded, simplifying what my team and I had discovered so far through our investigation.  
“Who confirmed Vivian Maxwell’s alibi?” my father questioned.  
“Her legal guardian, a woman by the name of Darlene McGowan. Darlene was there from 10:00 pm, half an hour after Vivian’s sister fell asleep, until 7:10 am. Vivian can’t have done it”.  
“Why not?”  
“Her house is 45 minutes from the Sunview Hotel, at which Paytan’s body was found. With Darlene checking on her every half an hour, there is no way that Vivian could have gotten there and back in time to still fool her” I replied calmly.  
“Well, she ran then”  
“CSU swept the room. They didn’t find anything that would suggest that the killer ran there” I retorted.  
My mother propped herself up on her good arm. “What did they find then?”  
“No GSR. They actually found practically nothing of relevance to our case”.  
“Practically?”  
“All they found was three sets of fingerprints on the safe which had been broken open. Fingerprints belonging to Paytan herself, those of Vivian Maxwell, and a partial print, which we know belongs to one of Paytan’s colleagues”.  
“So who do you suspect then?” my father demanded.  
“Well, I’ll have to check the list of people who Paytan was working with on her latest film, but at the moment I’m pretty damn sure that its whichever one of her colleagues was seen having an argument with her in the middle of The Bean Bag a couple of days ago. According to Miss Jennifer Evans, who works there part-time while at high school, Paytan’s colleague accused her of ‘taking more than her fair share of the fame and glory’, warned her that every star died eventually, and then said that Paytan would pay for what she’d done. Apparently the colleague got mad about the curt response that Paytan gave, and the two ended up getting into a yelling match that ended with Paytan leaving in tears and the colleague being forcibly removed” I answered.  
My mother nodded. “You want my advice, Alex?”  
“Of course I do. Your advice has helped me and the rest of my team out with so many cases before that I think I’d have to be a fool not to ask for it when I need it the most”  
My mother smirked. Ever since I had first become a detective, and started working with Lance, it had become a habit of mine to never end a conversation without having first mentioned something about how much easier the input and advice that my parents gave me (as they themselves had spent several years working cases together) made my job. “There are two things you should do. Firstly: Talk to the hotel manager. See if he can tell you whether anyone showed up at the hotel to visit Paytan Whitestone during the time slot she was murdered in, and if so, exactly who it was. It’s highly likely that whoever her killer was, he or she also just so happened to be the last person to see Paytan Whitestone alive. And, secondly: Go back to The Bean Bag. Ask to look at their security camera footage from the time of the argument in question, see what you can find out”.  
I literally cannot believe I did not think of that. A simple yet elegant solution to this case. “I shall do that. Hopefully that really does give us the lead we need to properly close this case once and for all. You are as brilliant as ever, mom. Thank you, I appreciate your wisdom” I replied, smiling slightly.  
Because I really did appreciate it when they gave me advice that ended up helping me to solve whatever case I was currently involved in working on. I really, truly, did. “Now, how about the four of us put this case out of our minds for the time being and turn our focus to discussing other things?” my father suggested.  
Alexis and I glanced at each other briefly, before she nodded in agreement. “Sure”.  
“So, mom, how long does it usually take to recover from a shoulder operation like that?” Alexis wondered.  
“They said I should be fine to leave at some point after six tonight. They also said to make sure that I drink plenty of fluids to help my body recover from the blood loss it’s been through” was the reply.  
Alexis nodded idly. “Well, that’s good news”.  
“It certainly is. Hey, Alex, promise me something, will you?”  
I looked up, meeting my dad’s deep, sapphire-blue, eyes. “Sure, dad, what is it?”  
“Promise me you won’t go falling in love with anyone who starts shadowing you, claiming that it’s ‘research’? God knows that the NYPD are doing well enough publicity-wise without anything else, including things that are better left unsaid, making it into the newspapers. Especially when it’s on Page 6…”  
I couldn’t help but laugh. Just like my dad to warn me of the chance that I could end up falling in love with someone that I met the same way that he and my mother ended up meeting. Not that I’d mind if I did, of course, but as far as I was concerned there were only two people that my heart could ever, would ever, belong to. Neither of whom had any reason to want to conduct research. “Yeah, dad, I promise I’ll be careful. Can’t go ending up with news about me on the city’s most notorious gossip page, after all”.  
“Very true”.  
“Are you any closer to solving that one particular cold case yet, Alex?” my mother asked me.  
Oh, god. I hated when that particular case, the very same case that had been unsolved for seven years and had been the catalyst for me to join the NYPD in the first place, was mentioned. The kidnapping of a five-year-old girl from her own bedroom when I was supposed to have been watching her. What made it truly personal was that the girl was my sister. If it had been anyone but my parents or Alexis who asked about the case, the question would have been met with a death glare, and an extremely rapid change of subject. “Quite simply, no. No new evidence whatsoever. We haven’t had any new evidence in… in that case, Victoria’s case, since they declared it closed six years ago”.  
“Take it from me, you’ll get there eventually. And, just like it did for me when your father and I finally solved my mother’s case, it will feel so damn good when you finally close Victoria’s. That much I swear”.  
I nodded, as my phone chirped quietly in my pocket. “Excuse me for a second. I’ve got to take this”.  
I got up and walked out into the hallway, pulling my phone from my pocket as I did so. “Hello?”  
“Detective Castle, how is the case coming along? Any evidence we can actually use?” snapped the man from the other end.  
“Sorry, Captain, I’ve been kind of distracted. My mother’s been shot in the shoulder, and she’s in New York Presbyterian Hospital”.  
His voice softened instantly. “Shit. How badly is she hurt?”  
“Well, sir, they had to operate to remove the bullet fragments, and she did lose a fair bit of blood, so she has a pain in her shoulder and is feeling a bit woozy, but they said she should be cleared to go home at some point after six tonight. Which is a relief, I suppose. So if it’s alright with you, sir, I’d like to take the rest of the day off to spend time with her and my father” I explained, summing up in three sentences exactly what I wanted to say.  
“And what about Alexis? Does she want the rest of the day off as well?”  
“I’m not sure. Probably though, considering what just happened”.  
On the other end of the call, at the 12th Precinct, the Captain nodded. “Of course, I understand completely. See you tomorrow, Detective”.  
“Thank you, sir. See you tomorrow”.  
I hung up and walked back into the room. “That was Captain Woods. He’s given Alexis and me the rest of the day off because of what just happened” I said simply.   
“Excellent”.  
That was about when a nurse looked in. “Kate?”  
“Is something the matter, Nurse Hamilton?” my mother queried.  
“I just thought you should know there are a few other people out there waiting to see you. They said that they’re with the NYPD, and that they work with your son. Do you want me to show them in?”  
Cassandra, Lance, and maybe Louise too… Ah, good. So they did get my text message after all. My mother nodded, though I couldn’t help but to notice the slight grimace that crossed her face as she did so. “Please do”.  
“As you wish”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1: Filler Chapter, though does contain some valuable details to note for the future.  
2: This Chapter is the second longest so far, at 1,987 words, yet took me only four hours (off and on) to put together.  
3: This chapter takes place immediately after Chapter 8, and two hours before Chapter 10.


	10. Chapter 10

~Alex Castle~  
Conversation had sort of died down after the initial shock everyone got when they saw my mother injured, and we were currently engaged in doing various other things. Alexis and Tania were idly discussing forensics, my parents were playing some sort of card game while talking in low voices (probably about the finer details of the final book in my father’s Nikki Heat series), and Cassie and Louise were engaged in a game of chess, while Lance, myself, and Mélanie watched. Eventually, I stood, stretching my muscles, which had become stiff from staying so still for close on two hours. According to my watch, (formerly my grandfather’s) which I had been given by my mother when I had originally joined the NYPD, it was about 5:30 pm, which meant that hopefully my mother would be able to go home soon. If everything went well. I forced myself to smile. “I’m going to go grab a snack, and maybe I’ll grab a coffee from the machine just down the hall while I’m out. Anyone want to come with me?”  
Lance practically leapt to his feet. “Sure, sounds good. I need to stretch my legs anyway”.  
I nodded appreciatively, glad of the chance of his company. Lance and I hadn’t really had a chance to catch up as much as we used to over the past couple of weeks, since most of our time had been spent at work, and, when we did have time to ourselves, we were either too exhausted to talk or we spent the whole time discussing the nuances of whatever case we were currently involved in. We walked down the hall in a companionable silence for a few minutes, before he finally spoke. “Did you and Mélanie discover anything interesting at The Bean Bag?” he queried.  
“Apart from confirming what Richie Stanton told us, and that Paytan was sometimes joined there by colleagues of hers or by Vivian Maxwell, surprisingly little” I replied casually.  
“So, what do we do now?”  
I considered the question, and my answer, very carefully before responding. “Now, Lance? Now we speak to Mr. Stevens at the Sunview Hotel; ask him whether anyone came to visit Paytan at any point between 12:30 and 1 this morning. Then we go back to The Bean Bag and ask Jennifer Evans to show us the security camera footage from the time of the argument that Paytan Whitestone had with her colleague, and find out exactly who that colleague was”.  
“Sounds good, my friend. How long do you think that we’ll need before this case is officially solved?”  
“You and the others take a few hours tonight to finish up any leads that we started looking into but haven’t quite finished following yet, and then go home. Get some well-deserved rest, and we’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow. With all likelihood, we should actually have this case solved by the end of the day”.  
“And what are you going to be doing while we’re working on this case, Alex?” Lance demanded, immediately catching onto the fact that I hadn’t included myself in the statement which I had just made.  
Exactly as I had known he would… “My mother’s been shot, Lance. As I’m sure you’re aware by now, since we did just spend the last two hours sitting in a hospital room where she’s recovering after being shot in the freaking shoulder... Captain Woods gave both Alexis and me the rest of the day off in order to spend some time with her and my father” I replied coolly.  
“And do you intend to try and track down the person responsible for shooting her?” he queried.  
I shrugged. “I suppose I should leave it to the robbery detectives at the 15th Precinct, since it was an attempt at an armed robbery, but he still could have killed her, meaning it could just as well have been a homicide. I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Lance. I’ve never been this conflicted about anything before”.  
Lance put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “If I’ve learnt one thing from the four years that I’ve spent working with you, Alex, it’s that sometimes, what everyone else thinks you should do is actually the most counterproductive way of getting anything done. Rather, you do what you yourself think is the best thing to do given the situation, and let the consequences be damned”.  
I scowled. “That doesn’t help, Lance”.  
“What I mean is that you should just do what you think you think is the right thing to do” Lance said simply.  
I raised an eyebrow. “Now you’re starting to sound like my father. It’s kind of weird. But I must say that that does make my decision a lot easier to make”.  
“So, what’re you going to do?”  
“As soon as we crack this case, I’m going to head to The Old Haunt and ask a couple of questions, and maybe look at the security cameras there from the time of the attempted robbery. Probably grab a drink while I’m there, since I have nothing better to do”.  
Lance nodded, accepting my answer. “Yeah, that makes sense. You know I’ve got your back no matter what happens, right?”  
I smiled slightly. “Of course I do. Hey, on a totally unrelated note, how are things between you and Ana?”  
Anabella Jackson, who preferred to be called Ana by everyone except her colleagues, was Lance’s girlfriend. They’d been dating for about five months now, and I wasn’t sure whether I’d actually ever seen my partner happier than he had been since they met. “Things between us literally could not be going any better than they are. I think it’s getting to the point where we’re definitely serious about our relationship” he said cheerfully.  
I grinned. “I’m glad to hear it”.  
And the fact is that I really was glad to hear it. “And things with Claire?” he queried.  
I considered this, thinking about the few times that Claire and I had met up for coffee before we started dating officially. “We’ve really only just started dating, so I’m not really sure where our relationship is going just yet, but I really do like her, and I’m sure that, given time, it could turn into something truly serious” I replied honestly.  
“Alright, I’m glad to hear that you’re happy, man. Just… be careful not to get your heart broken, alright?”  
I chuckled. “Yeah, no worries on that score, my friend”  
By this point, we had reached the hospital’s small lunchroom. I quickly perused the foods on offer before deciding on a simple ham sandwich. Lance, on the other hand, glanced between a roast beef sandwich and a small steak and cheese pie for several seconds before finally settling on the pie. “And two coffees, please”  
“Any particular blend?” queried the girl at the counter.  
I considered the question. The variety of coffees available at any hospital in New York differed greatly from place to place, and New York Presbyterian had one of the widest selections in the city. Lance glanced at me and grinned slightly. “One triple-shot latte and a plain espresso, please” he said quickly.  
“Of course. That will be $15.75”.  
As Lance reached for his wallet, I held one hand up slightly. “I’ll get this one”.  
I quickly pulled out a $20 note, handing it to the woman. “Keep the change”.  
She merely nodded. As Lance and I left the lunchroom with our purchases in hand, Lance smirked. “You just so happened to have $20 in your back pocket, Alex?”  
I chuckled grimly. “How else do you think I pay for coffee every day?”  
“Fair enough. Hey, did you ever hear of something called a hand margarita?”  
I raised an eyebrow at the question, surprised that my partner of four years even knew about them. Although, strangely enough, not as surprised as I could have been. “Well, of course I have. All you need is a lime, some salt, and some tequila. Pour a shot, lick the web of your hand between your thumb and forefinger, sprinkle salt on it, then lick the salt, toss back the shot, and bite the lime. The real question is: How do you know what they are?”  
He blushed. “Ah… Ana convinced me to give one a try during a power cut a couple of nights ago. She told me that she got the idea from the 9th chapter of Heat Wave. My god, we got so drunk that night…”  
And, naturally, that explained exactly why Lance had called off of work the day before, claiming that, for the sake of everyone concerned, it was probably best if he didn’t come in that day. Of course, all we’d been doing was wrapping up the paperwork on the case we’d just closed the day before anyway, so he hadn’t exactly missed much. “Yeah, well… Don’t you dare get that drunk tonight, Lance. Gods know we’ll need you when it finally comes to figuring this thing out tomorrow” I said simply.  
“Wouldn’t dream of it”.


	11. Chapter 11

~Alex Castle~  
“So, Cassie mentioned before that she once worked for the DA’s office and that she was assigned to act as a liaison between them and the 12th Precinct during a particularly frustrating case. How did you two react to meeting each other again after so long?” Louise queried, moving one of her bishops to capture one of the last remaining pawns on Cassie’s side of the chessboard.  
By this point, Lance and I had rejoined her, Cassie, and Mélanie. And my grandfather, who had turned up unexpectedly while we were out of the room, was involved in an in-depth discussion with my parents. Though what that was about, I had absolutely no clue. Cassie and I smirked at each other instantly, before I spoke. “Ah. Now that… That is a good story”.  
\--2 years ago--  
Her heels clicked rhythmically against the oak floor as she stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hallway, eventually coming to a stop in front of my desk, where I was in the middle of reading a couple of files relating to the case Lance and myself were working. She coughed, gently but insistently at the same time, and I looked up from the file, almost giving her an irritated glare. However, I quickly smiled at her instead. “What can I do for you?” I queried.  
“Could you direct me to Captain Wood’s office? I have to speak with him immediately” was the response, given in a voice like liquid honey and so, so, familiar.   
I nodded, standing and gesturing down the hall opposite the one she had just come down, indicating the room with a closed door at the end. On the door indicated was a metal plate with the name ‘Captain Woods’ on it. “Down there”.  
She smiled gratefully in response, and it was as she did so that I realized exactly why she was so familiar. “Thanks”.  
She began to walk down the hallway to the Captain’s office. However, before she could get very far, I stood, calling after her. “Cassandra?”  
She whirled immediately, and her stunned green eyes met my own blue ones. At that very moment, I was sure she’d realized exactly who I was. “Alex?”  
Then and there, there were things that I wanted to tell her that I just couldn’t bring myself to say. I hadn’t seen her for so long, yet I was still in love with her. Probably more in love with her at that moment than I had ever really been before. “It’s good to see you again”.  
“Good to see you too. Look, on any other occasion I’d love to stay and catch up on old times, but I do have a meeting with Captain Woods to get to. Maybe later?”  
“Maybe”  
As she turned and resumed walking towards the Captain’s room down the hall, I sank into my desk chair again, returning my attention to the files in front of me, feeling slightly more cheerful than before. Maybe this case wasn’t going to be so bad after all…  
-Ten minutes later-  
Captain Woods was still talking with Cassandra in his office. Lance had just returned from a visit to the morgue, where he had been checking to see if Tania and Alexis had managed to narrow down the time of death on our latest victim, and the two of us were currently sitting on the edge of his desk, staring at the huge whiteboard containing all the information that we currently had on the case. He had just told me about the fact, though they hadn’t yet managed to narrow down the time of death any further, they had managed to discover that the fingerprints that we found on the dead man’s body matched exactly with those of his best friend when Captain Woods stepped into the room. “Detectives, could I have a word with you three in my office please?”  
Detective Forrest Logan, who was still working with us at the time, merely inclined his head as he walked over. Lance and I stood and, together, the three of us followed Captain Woods down the hall and into his office, where Cassandra was standing by the window, staring out of it. Captain Woods coughed gently. “Ms. Bates”  
She turned. “Captain?”  
“These are the homicide detectives you asked to meet. Detectives Castle, Richards, and Logan”.  
As he spoke, he gestured to the three of us in turn. Cassandra smiled. “I’m looking forward to working with the three of you. The DA has assigned me to work with you on the Cooke case. Officially, I’m supposed to be acting as a liaison between this Precinct and his office. Unofficially, I’m kind of hoping to get an opportunity to do a little detective work of my own”  
I cast a quick glance at my partners. Forrest looked concerned (no doubt about exactly how much Cassandra would be reporting back to the DA), and Lance simply shrugged. I smiled slightly, nodding to the young woman. “Don’t see why not. Besides, Lance and I have been trying to make sense of the evidence we’ve managed to find so far, and so very little of it makes any viable sense. A fresh pair of eyes never hurt”.  
In response, the DA’s liaison inclined her head. “Just lead the way”.  
\--Present Day--  
“And to think, we’ve been working together ever since” Cassandra muttered idly as I finished speaking.  
“Even if you didn’t officially join the team as an actual detective until one week after Forrest left” I commented.  
Louise thought quickly. “What was the first case you worked once you officially became a detective, Cassie?” she queried.  
My partner considered the question briefly. “Well, let’s just say that it involved the dead man’s pants, a crate of exotic spiders, and a can of orange soda. It was definitely a very strange case indeed”.  
I glanced quickly at my watch. It was by this point, just after six pm, meaning we’d probably been sitting in the hospital for just under 3 hours. As if on cue, a nurse poked her head into the room. “Mrs. Castle?” she queried.  
My mother nodded. The nurse immediately stepped into the room. In one hand she held a clipboard with some official-looking documents on it, along with a blue pen, and in the other she held a plastic shopping bag with my mother’s clothes. “I have your things here if you’d like to get changed. Other than that, if you could just have someone sign these patient release forms, you’ll be free to go”.  
My mother nodded instantly, gesturing with her good hand towards the room’s tiny bathroom. “I’ll get changed in there. Rick, could you…”  
She trailed off as my father merely smiled gently, taking the clipboard and the pen from the nurse’s hand and sitting down, starting to fill in the necessary information. “Of course”.  
Cassandra sighed, looking down at the chessboard very briefly before moving a rook. “Checkmate”.  
“One last question, Alex”  
I took another sip of my coffee and looked at Louise, instantly raising an eyebrow. “Fine. What do you want to know?”  
“What does your name actually mean?”  
I spluttered in disbelief and some of the dark brown liquid currently in my mouth almost went down the wrong way. “Seriously? You don’t know what my name means?” I choked out.  
“Some people don’t look up the names of prominent New York detectives in their spare time” she responded coolly.  
And for once in my life, I could not come up with a response to that. So, after managing to properly drink the last of my coffee, I simply said “My name means Defender of man. It also actually happens to be an extremely fitting name, especially when you consider the fact that I’m a Homicide detective whose team is widely regarded as one of the top Homicide teams in the city”  
“I think I get it now. But…”  
I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. To me, the word ‘but’ meant another question. And that meant Thalia, as she had earlier suggested I call her, had lied about the previous question being her last one. And robbery detectives annoyed me when they lied. Well, technically, they annoyed me anyway. But robbery detectives who both lied and asked too many questions annoyed me most of all. “But what?”  
“Why did your parents actually name you Alexander when they had no way of knowing that you were going to become a cop?”  
Oh. That was not a question I had been prepared to deal with. “Because it's a good name, what better reason do you need? But seriously. The reasoning behind that decision, ‘Thalia’, is a long story. One involving fake psychics, a vision of a man who would one day save my mother’s life, and an interesting piece of information about my father. However, it is a story that I do not particularly want to tell right now. Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe never. Depends how I feel.”


	12. Chapter 12

~Cassandra~  
“Hi, I’m Detective Cassandra Bates from the NYPD’s Homicide Division. Is this Ms. Faith Goodman?”  
It hadn’t taken us long to get out of the hospital. Alex and Alexis had left with their parents and Alex’s grandfather (well, they took Alex’s car, but still…), while Louise, Mélanie, Lance, Tania, and myself had headed back to the Precinct to finish up the things we still had to do. I kind of felt sorry for Alex, to be honest. It must be horrifying to have one of your parents shot, no matter how injured they were. “Detective?”  
I realized I’d been lost in thought for about a minute. And sometime in that minute, someone had replied. “Sorry, I was just thinking about something. Am I speaking with Ms. Faith Goodman?”  
“Yes, that’s me. What can I do for you, Detective?”  
“I understand Paytan Whitestone was working with your company on her latest film project. Is that correct?”  
Judging from the sudden rustle of papers that I could hear over the line as I waited for her response, she was clearly sitting at a desk. Indoors, judging from the lack of any sound representing wind. “Yes, that would be correct. May I ask what this is about, Detective?”  
“I’m investigating her murder”.  
There was a distinct crashing sound. On the other side of the line, Ms. Goodman swore under her breath. “Are you alright, Ms. Goodman?” I queried.  
“I’m fine. I just accidentally jolted my coffee cup off of my desk, that’s all. Paytan’s dead? When… What happened?”  
“She was shot in the back of her head while she was sitting in her room at the Sunview Hotel between 12:30 and 1 this morning. We believe whoever killed her also broke open and stole from the safe in the same room” I responded, adopting a matter-of-fact tone of voice.  
“Oh, god… I can’t believe that she’s gone. I really can’t”.  
In all honesty, I couldn’t believe she was gone either. Her movies were generally well-received; her acting had received accolades from some of the greatest names in New York. However, now was most definitely not the time to get sentimental. That would have to wait until we had solved this case. “Neither can I. But we really need to focus here. Did anyone, in particular, have a work-related grievance against Paytan, or hold a grudge against her for some reason?” I said quickly.  
“I’m… I’m not sure”.  
I mentally face-palmed, thankful that most of the people I had to deal with weren’t this unobservant. “Let me rephrase the question then. Did you ever see Paytan having a heated discussion, or an argument, with any of her colleagues?” I asked.  
“When you put it like that… yes, I did. It was about a week ago. They had just finished wrapping up the climax of the movie, and the director had told them all to take the rest of the afternoon off to spend time with family or do anything else they wanted to do. Paytan had come into the lobby to grab something, and Ophelia Joyner, one of her coworkers, came in only a couple of seconds after her. They started talking, and it couldn’t have been more than a couple of minutes before it became a heated argument. Paytan appeared to be defensive, trying to convince Ophelia to back off. Before Graham Savage, one of their other colleagues, could separate them, however, Ophelia slapped Paytan across the face twice, said something regarding a pickpocket, and stormed off. Paytan ran and hid in her trailer, where she sat crying for the rest of the day” she said softly, her voice low, as if she was speaking about a moment she would rather not have remembered.  
I grabbed a pen from the holder on my desk and reached for a post-it note, scribbling a quick note to remind our team to speak with Graham Savage and Ophelia Joyner the next day. “Will there be anything else I can help you with, detective?” Ms. Goodman queried.  
I considered this. “Actually, yes, there is something else. I’m going to need a list of everyone, both cast, and crew, who was working on this project. Preferably including phone numbers, email addresses, and last known addresses if that’s at all possible”.  
“Of course. Just give me your email address and I’ll get that sent to you straight away”.  
I gave her my email address, as she had requested, and she promised I’d have the list I wanted at some point within the next three hours. “Thank you, Ms. Goodman”.  
“It’s what I’m here for. Detective, I’m sure you’ve heard enough of this today already, but I feel that I have to say it. Catch the bastard who did this. Make them suffer for taking Paytan’s life”  
I gave a mock salute in response, even though I knew that there was absolutely no chance she would possibly be able to see me through the phone (basic landline. They were still surprisingly effective, given the advances in technology that had occurred since they were actually installed in the Precinct). Beside me, Louise smirked slightly. “My colleagues and I have every intention of doing so. I swear, they will go to prison for a long, long, time once this is over” I responded honestly.  
“Good. Well, it’s been nice talking to you, Detective Bates, but I have to go”.  
“A pleasure doing business with you” I grinned. Yeah, now we were making progress.  
“And with you”  
And with those words, she hung up. I sighed slightly, turning to Louise. “That was actually really productive. It turns out that Paytan had an argument with one of her colleagues, Ms. Ophelia Joyner, a week ago. Apparently, Ms. Joyner threatened Ms. Whitestone. And slapped her in the face twice”  
“And she wasn’t charged with assault? Seriously?”  
I shrugged. “Maybe Paytan just didn’t want to waste valuable filming time. It makes sense, really. I’d probably have done the same thing in her place. Granted, I wouldn’t have burst out crying and gone to hide in my trailer as Paytan did, but I definitely wouldn’t have wasted precious time by pressing charges”.  
~Lance Richards~  
Mélanie and I walked back into the tech room, the younger woman immediately heading straight for the computer terminal she had been working at before we took a break to have lunch, and resuming the scan she had been going over. Just as I was sitting down, one of the phones rang. Naturally, I grabbed it right away. “Hello”.  
“Detective Richards? It’s Juliana Bruce”  
Juliana Bruce was the head of the CSU team of forensic scientists that worked with us on practically every case we worked. “Ah. How can I help you, Ms. Bruce?”  
“Dr. Bruce” she corrected.  
I sighed. She was always so insistent on being referred to with the correct title. Quite frankly, it was beginning to annoy me. “Sorry, my apologies. Won’t happen again, I promise. What can I do for you, Dr. Bruce?”  
“We just finished the second sweep of Paytan’s hotel room. Still no fibers or residue of any sort, and no new fingerprints either, but we did find something that might prove useful. Something that I’m incredibly annoyed we missed when we did the first sweep” she replied.  
“Out with it. What did you find, and where did you find it?”  
“A shell casing. It had fallen under Paytan’s bed. That was how we missed it in the first place”  
Huh. Okay, that was interesting enough to attract my attention. “What caliber?”  
“.45”.  
Tania would be pleased to hear that, I knew. It added just that little bit more weight to her (admittedly, already confirmed) theory about Paytan’s death. I would have to call her as soon as this conversation was over. “Thank you for letting me know. Have a copy of the report emailed to me, and get the casing sent to the lab to check for fingerprints”.  
“Of course. Talk to you later”.  
I hung up as soon as she had said that. “Looks like we’re finally getting somewhere now, Mélanie. CSU just found the shell casing for a .45 caliber bullet, just like the one that killed Paytan, under the bed in the hotel room”  
“Well, that’s definitely an improvement on recent events…”  
~Alex Castle~  
I glanced at my watch. I had promised to stay with Alexis, my parents, and my grandfather until around 11:00 that night, at which point I would excuse myself and leave to go home. It was going to be a long enough day the next day as it was, and I’d probably end up going on about 5 hours of sleep, if not even less. Roughly another four hours and 45 minutes to go. “I saved the city from a radioactive bomb once” my father smirked, clearly remembering an event from his time working with my mother.  
“Yeah, by ripping a whole bunch of wires out at the same time. I’m trying not to think of what would have happened had pulled out those wires not disarmed the bomb” I commented idly.  
“Well for one, none of us would be here right now” my mother pointed out.  
I nodded. “Hence why I was trying not to think about it”.


	13. Chapter 13

~Alex Castle~  
The sound of my phone chirping insistently on my bedside table woke me from what had been a welcome sleep. Snatching it up, I quickly hit the 'Accept' button before putting the device to my ear. "Yes?"  
"It's me"  
Cassandra's voice, already way too cheery for my liking, filled my ears. "What do you want, Cass? It's 7:30 in the morning," I groaned.  
"You're heading back out to the Sunview Hotel to speak with Mr. Stevens, right?"  
I nodded. "Yeah, I am. I'm curious to find out if Paytan Whitestone had any visitors the night of her death. Why do you ask?"  
"Would you mind if I came with you? I'd like to revisit the crime scene, take another look around and see if there's anything I missed when I was last there. Plus I'm eager to hear what Mr. Stevens says for myself."   
I considered this momentarily. "Alright, I'll meet you outside of your apartment in thirty minutes. Don't keep me waiting too long this time".  
Cassie laughed softly, and I could tell that she was smiling when she next spoke. "Alright, Alex, I'll see you then".  
I sighed, before swinging my legs over the side of the bed and getting up. It was going to be a hell of a long day, that much was for sure.  
-Around an hour later-  
Cassandra and I stood in the parking lot of the Sunview Hotel, our backs to the car. “So, where is he?”  
“Detective Castle! Detectives Bates! Well, isn’t this a surprise?”  
I turned as someone called my name, nodding to the manager as he approached us. “Mr. Stevens. I’m sorry that we have to do this so early”.  
“Oh, don’t be. We all have to do what we have to do, right?”  
“Indeed. Anyway, I suppose we had better get on with this”.  
“I suppose so. What can I help you with, Detectives?”  
“We were wondering if you might be able to tell us whether Paytan Whitestone had any visitors, or was expecting any, the night of her murder” Cassandra replied.  
Mr. Stevens considered the question momentarily. “Her boyfriend was here with her from 10:30 to 10:35, when he had to leave to attend a charity event”.  
Cassandra nodded. “What about at around midnight?”  
“There was one person. A woman. She got here at about 11:25, just as I was preparing to close up for the night. She said that she needed to speak to Ms. Whitestone immediately”.  
“Did you get her name?” I asked, curious.  
If my instincts were right, this woman, whoever she was, happened to be the last person to see Paytan Whitestone alive. And that made her my new number one suspect. “Ophelia Rita Joyner”.  
I frowned, glancing at Cassandra. “Wasn’t that the woman that Ms. Goodman mentioned she saw arguing with Paytan Whitestone about a week ago?”  
My partner nodded. “The very same, actually”  
“What time did Ms. Joyner leave?” I asked the hotel manager.  
“Just after 12:40”.  
Cassandra and I glanced at each other. “Well, that’s certainly helpful… There’s just one more thing that we need to know. Since you were preparing to close up at 11:25 two nights ago, implying you closed up within the space of 15 minutes after that, how do you know that Ms. Joyner left at all?” Cassandra queried.  
Mr. Stevens turned, gesturing to a pair of security cameras mounted on the walls of the parking lot. “The camera closest to us can see the entirety of the parking lot, and the other one is focused on the guest rooms. We can see most of the doors with it, aside from the three furthest on either side. My wife and I review the footage every morning when we open, just to make sure that we don’t miss anything, and Ms. Joyner leaving caught my attention when we were reviewing the footage from two nights ago. That’s how I know she left when she did”.  
Tania put Paytan’s TOD at between 12:30 and 1 that night. It was better to be safe than sorry, so we’d still have to speak with both Ophelia Joyner and Graham Savage anyway, but I had a feeling that I already knew who our killer was. And it was only a matter of time until we could confirm it for ourselves. “We’re going to need a copy of the security footage from two nights ago. Just for the sake of confirmation, of course”.  
“And I’d like to take another look around room 204, if that’s alright. Just in case there’s anything there that our CSU team might have missed” Cassandra stated.  
“Of course. You know where the room is already, right?”  
“Of course I do” Cassandra responded casually. “Meet back here in ten minutes, Alex?”  
“Sounds good”  
My partner walked off in the direction of the stairs that led up to Room 204, and Mr. Stevens waited until she started to climb the stairs before gesturing to his office. “Come with me, Detective. Let’s see about getting you that security footage you asked for”.  
~Fifteen minutes later~  
“Do you think she’s the killer?”  
I gave Cassandra a confused look. “Sorry, who are we talking about?”  
“Ophelia Joyner. The woman that Mr. Stevens mentioned was here to see Paytan Whitestone two nights ago. Do you think that she’s the one who killed Paytan?”  
I shrugged. “I think that, as with almost all of our suspects, it’s a distinct possibility. But until we know more, I don’t think we can really say for certain one way or the other”.  
She raised an eyebrow. “I meant personally, Alex”  
I merely sighed. “As tempted as I am to say that I think she is, I don’t think we have all the evidence we need to support that claim. Besides, I want to talk to Mr. Savage as well. He could still have been involved somehow, and until we find out where he was last night, I don’t think we can officially make a decision”.  
“Personally, I’m pretty certain that she is going to turn out to be the killer. But I do agree with you. We can’t just go around accusing people without having evidence to back up our claims. So, where do you suggest we go now?”  
“The Bean Bag. I could use another coffee. Plus, we need to ask the manager if we can see the security footage from that argument between Paytan and her colleague that Richie Stanton told you about”.  
“Fine by me”


	14. Chapter 14

The bell above the door of the coffee shop chimed as we stepped through the door. The brown-haired girl behind the counter looked up immediately, grinning as she noticed us. “Hi guys! What can I get the two of you today?”  
“Nothing at the moment, Jennifer, but thanks for asking. We’d like to speak to the manager immediately if we can. It’s about the security camera footage from the argument Paytan Whitestone had with one of her colleagues here a few days ago” my partner responded calmly.  
The girl nodded. “Of course. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to her office now. Just hang on a second”.  
She turned to the red-haired older boy next to her. “Terry, can you and Sarah handle things here for a few minutes?”  
He nodded in response. “Of course, Jenn”.  
“Thanks. I owe you one”.  
Stepping out from behind the counter, she led us over to a door set a short distance away and quickly tapped in a 5-digit code on the keypad next to it. A green LED blinked into existence on the surface of the electronic lock, and there was a quiet click as she grasped the door handle, giving it a sharp tug downwards and pulling the door open. Stepping through the doorway into a short hallway, the girl waited until we were in as well before letting the door fall closed behind us and gesturing to the door on the other side of the hallway. “That’s the door to her office. She doesn’t usually like to be disturbed, or at least not during business hours”.  
We walked quickly down the short hallway, and she knocked on the door at the other end, receiving a curt “Come in” in response.  
“Best not to keep her waiting” Jennifer muttered, holding the door open for the two of us to step through, pulling it shut behind her as she joined us in the small office.  
The manager’s office was surprisingly business-like for a coffee shop. The walls were painted a simple white color, and the floor was covered by a simple brown rug. A desk made of some kind of dark wood was in the exact center of the room, with two simple wood and leather chairs on the side nearest to us. On the side of the desk opposite was a standard swivel chair of dark-brown leather. Much of the space on the wall behind the desk was taken up by a large abstract painting composed entirely of different shades of the color blue.  
The black-haired woman looked up from the desk in the center of the room, raising an eyebrow in impatience. “Well? Out with it, what do you want? I don’t have all day!”  
“Ma’am, these are…”  
The girl stopped speaking as the woman behind the desk glared at her. “I wasn’t asking you, Ms. Evans. Now, get back to work!”  
Jennifer gulped. “Y… Yes, Ma’am”  
Turning, she pulled the door open and slipped through, letting it click shut behind her. Once we could no longer hear her retreating footsteps, I stepped forward. “Mrs. Kessler, I’m Detective Castle. This is my partner, Detective Bates. We need to speak with you about a confrontation that occurred here a couple of days ago between Miss Paytan Whitestone and one of her colleagues”.  
The woman narrowed her eyes. “Petty squabbles between co-workers are none of my concern”.  
“You might want to reconsider your attitude about this particular petty squabble” Cassandra snapped in response.  
I watched the woman’s tone seemed to shift immediately as she absorbed the meaning of Cassandra’s reply. “Mrs. Kessler, Paytan Whitestone was found dead in her hotel room yesterday. We need to see the security camera footage from the day of the argument” I said calmly.  
The woman across from us drew in a sharp breath. “Fine”.  
She leaned over her desk, pressing a button and speaking into the intercom. “Mr. Tethers, can I see you for a second?”  
There was a few seconds pause, and then the door behind us opened and a tall, blonde-haired man stepped into the room. He nodded nervously at his boss. “Yes, Mrs. Kessler?”  
The older woman gestured to Cassandra and myself. “These two detectives need to see the security camera footage from when Paytan Whitestone was here three days ago”.  
“Of course, please follow me”.  
Turning to the door, we followed him back into the hallway. He led us down the hall for a few minutes before turning to a door that was set slightly further into the wall than the rest of them, opening it and ushering us inside. “This is the security room”.  
He settled into the chair in front of the large bank of computer screens, quickly beginning to rewind the footage on the main screen. After a few minutes, the blonde-haired security expert hit the Play button on his console, leaning back in his chair to give Cassandra and myself some space as we watched the screen in front of us. “There’s Paytan at that table in the center of the room” Cassandra said, indicating the woman on screen with one finger.  
I nodded. “And the girl in the chair next to her is undoubtedly Vivian Maxwell”.  
We watched in silence as the two women on the screen conversed for a few minutes before Cassandra spoke again. “Fast forward a few minutes, at least until Vivian gets up to leave”.  
“Certainly”.  
As the man skillfully manipulated the controls on the console pad in front of him, the images on the screen sped up noticeably. It wasn’t long until the pickpocket that had been sitting next to Paytan got up to leave. The actress got up as well, pulling the younger girl into a quick hug before pulling away, letting the young girl walk out of view of the camera. There were a couple of minutes where Paytan was alone, and I was opening my mouth to ask the security expert to fast forward the footage again when my partner spoke. “There!”  
I followed her pointing finger, quickly spotting the woman who had just entered the coffee shop and was greeting Paytan. “Isn’t that Ophelia Joyner, Alex?”  
“I think so, but I can’t say for sure. Are there any other angles we can see her from?” I replied.  
“No, sorry. This is the best I can do. Unless she was facing the door, in which case I could use the camera above the door to get an image of her from that angle”  
“Hang on, she doesn’t look too happy with Paytan. Something’s happening. Looks like they’re arguing…”   
“Jennifer was right” I muttered, watching the screen carefully.  
As soon as Paytan turned away, hands over her face, and the other woman was grabbed from behind and forcibly turned towards the door, I knew that was the perfect opportunity. “Pause it. Then pull up the view from the camera above the door of the same woman”.  
As the blonde-haired man did so, I nodded in recognition. “That is most definitely Ophelia Joyner”.


	15. Chapter 15

“Did you find what you were looking for, Alex?” Jennifer queried as we returned to the front desk.   
I smiled back, patting the pocket of my jacket where the flash drive containing the information sat. “We did, thank you. Now… can I also get a couple of coffees to go?”  
The 15-year-old practically beamed at me in response. “Of course! You want your usual, right?”  
I considered this briefly. Under any other circumstances, I’d probably say yes. But after what happened yesterday, I feel like I need to be close to my mother. Even if it’s just through ordering her favorite coffee. “Actually, I feel like trying something different today. Can I get a large skim latte with two pumps of sugar free vanilla?”  
Jennifer nodded, before turning to my partner. “And how about you?”  
“A large Butterbeer Latte, please. It’s a regular latte with…”  
Jennifer interrupted her before she could finish. “I know. Two pumps each of caramel syrup, toffee nut syrup, and cinnamon dolce syrup, topped with whipped cream and salted caramel bits. ”  
Damn, that actually sounds really good. I’m almost tempted to change my order. Cassie nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly it”.  
Jennifer grinned in response. “I told you last month, Cass. I know my way around the menu. You’ll never successfully stump me.”  
My partner shrugged. “Ah well. Doesn’t mean that I can’t try”.  
“Very true. Alright, that’s going to be… $8.50, thanks”.  
For two large coffees? Wow, that is a good deal. Before I could do anything, Cassie quickly pulled a $10 note from her wallet and passed it to the younger girl. “You paid last time, Sandy. This time, it’s my treat.”  
I frowned at the use of her nickname for me from high school (a nickname she hadn’t used since the day we graduated), but didn’t say anything. The brown-haired girl behind the counter smiled, quickly giving my partner her change. “Your coffees should be ready in about five minutes. Go ahead and take a seat, I’ll bring them over to you guys.”  
Jennifer scribbled something on a sheet of paper before busying herself at one of the machines, and Cass and I walked over to our usual table on the right hand side of the room, settling into opposing chairs. Good, we have time to talk while we’re waiting for our drinks. It’s been a long time since we’ve actually been able to sit down together and talk about anything but work. “So what’re you thinking?” I queried.  
“This case is actually making me want to re-watch some of Paytan Whitestone’s older movies. She was such a fantastic actress. She just seemed to bring her own brand of… expertise, I guess the term would be in this case, to every role she played”.  
Now there’s an idea for our next movie night. “I agree with you, actually. I know it’s strange to say, but it’s hard to believe she’s only been acting for 8 years with her level of professionalism. You typically only see that with people who have… been in the business for much longer than her. In most of her more recent films, it’s really hard, if not outright impossible, to tell where her character ends and the real her starts”.  
“That’s exactly what I was thinking!”  
The sudden sound of footsteps approaching our table caused us to look up, broken suddenly from our discussion of Paytan Whitestone’s acting abilities. Jennifer smiled, setting two take-out coffee cups in the center of the table. “Have a nice day, both of you”.  
I smiled back at her. “Thanks, Jenn, you too. We’ve got to get back to work, but we’ll try to stop by again sometime this afternoon”  
“I’m normally rostered on around then, at least for weekends, so I’ll see you then. Good luck solving the case”.  
Cassie and I stood, my partner taking a sip of her latte and giving a soft sigh of satisfaction. “We’ll let you know when we catch the person who did it, Jenn”.  
And with those words, she headed for the door that led back outside. Giving a slight smile, I followed her, the bell above the door chiming quietly as we stepped through. “Ophelia’s the killer, Alex. She has to be, it’s the only explanation that makes perfect sense!” my partner exclaimed, her eyes flashing with steely determination as she turned towards me.  
Back to business then, I suppose. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Cass. We can put her at the scene at the time, and we know that she had motive to kill Paytan, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have enough proof to actually charge her with murder. We can bring her in for questioning, but that’s about it at the moment”, I replied calmly.  
She smirked confidently. “Then let’s do that. Let’s bring Ms. Joyner in for questioning. But first, let’s see about finding out where she’s staying and getting a search warrant”.  
I smiled in agreement, nodding. “I’ll call Mélanie now”  
I immediately pulled out my cellphone, quickly keying in the relevant number. “Hi, Mel, it’s Alex. I need you to do me a favor”.  
“Of course, what can I do for you?”  
“I need you to find out where Ophelia Joyner is staying and text me her address. And maybe get me Graham Savage’s address too. It’s really important” I replied.  
“I’ll do my best!”  
There was a gentle click from her end as the line went dead, and I tapped the button that would switch off my cellphone, slipping it back into my pocket and turning back to look at my partner, who had an expression of confusion on her face. “Alex, we already know that Ophelia was the last person to see Paytan alive two nights ago. Why would you ask for Graham Savage’s address too?”  
“Faith Goodman told you that he tried to intervene in a fight between Ophelia and our victim after they’d wrapped up the climax of their movie, right?”  
My partner nodded, her eyes flashing victoriously as she realized exactly what I was suggesting. “Right. And we know that he’s spent time around both women, so there must be something about their rivalry that he can tell us. That’s really good thinking, Alex”.  
“Thank you”.  
As we settled into the car, the hands-free device lit up, indicating an incoming call from Captain Woods. Frowning slightly, wondering what the captain could be calling about so early in the morning, I hit the Accept button. “Detective Castle speaking”.  
“Detective. Detective Bates is with you, correct?”  
Cassandra and I glanced at each other, concerned. What could be so important that the Captain would want to speak with both of us? “That’s correct, Captain” my partner said after a short pause.  
“Detectives, I have just been informed by the officer on duty that a young woman by the name of Vivian Maxwell called the front desk looking for you about five minutes ago. She said that she has useful information concerning the Paytan Whitestone case”  
If she really has important information, why the hell didn’t she tell it to Louise and me while we were there earlier? “Thank you, sir. We’ll head over there immediately”.  
“See that you do, Detectives. Her information may just prove to be what we need to put the person who did this away for good”.


	16. Chapter 16

It had taken us about thirty minutes to drive from the coffee shop to Vivian Maxwell’s house, during which Cassie mostly just sat quietly, staring out of the window. As we pulled up to the building, and I stopped the car, I reached over, shaking her shoulder gently and causing her to jump slightly in surprise. “Penny for your thoughts, partner?”  
She chuckled gently. “I spaced out there for a few minutes. I had trouble sleeping last night. I guess I was too busy thinking about this case and just couldn’t get to sleep for several hours. We need to solve this case, Alex”.  
I nodded grimly. “I couldn’t agree more. Hopefully, the information Vivian Maxwell has for us will get us closer to doing so. Anyway, we’re here now. Let’s go and find out what she has to say”.  
The door was answered almost as soon as we knocked, this time by a younger girl. She looked up at us, confused. “You’re Lexi Maxwell, right? I’m Detective Bates, this is my partner Detective Castle. Your sister said she wanted to talk to us about something to do with the case we’re working on. Is she in?” Cassandra queried.  
The girl nodded, pausing for a couple of seconds to raise a hand in front of her face, giving a quiet cough. “Vivi mentioned speaking to Detective Castle yesterday. She’s in the lounge. I can show you the way if you like?”  
I shook my head, giving the 13-year old girl a gentle smile. “I remember the way to the lounge, but thank you for the offer anyway”.  
Lexi nodded and turned to go back inside, but was stopped when I spoke again, my voice gentle. “Are you feeling any better today? When I spoke to your sister yesterday she said you hadn’t been feeling very well”.  
“I’m definitely feeling better than I have been. Thank you for asking”.  
She disappeared down the hallway, and I could hear her calling to her sister, letting the older girl know we were here, as we stepped into the house and I led the way down the hall to the lounge where Vivian Maxwell was waiting. “Ms. Maxwell. You wanted to talk to us?”  
The former pickpocket stood, gesturing to the couch opposite her. “I did. I remembered something that had skipped my mind yesterday and I wanted to tell you what it was. Where’s the female detective from yesterday, if you don’t mind me asking?” she asked curiously.  
“Our colleague, Detective Robins, is following other leads at the moment. I’m Detective Bates, Detective Castle’s partner” Cassie said calmly, as both of us took a seat.  
As the girl sat down as well, Cassie leaned forward. “So, what’s this information you have for us, Ms. Maxwell?”  
The girl looked down nervously, fidgeting with her folded hands. “I may have taught Paytan to crack a safe”.  
"I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you correctly. You know how to crack a safe?" my partner queried, raising an eyebrow at the girl sitting across from us.  
The younger girl nodded. "I may be just a pickpocket, or at the very least a former pickpocket, but I do have some other tricks up my sleeve, Detectives. My father was an infamous safe-cracker years ago. He turned himself in and confessed to his crimes when he retired, but back when he was still actively working, he taught me many of his tricks just in case I ever wanted to get into doing something... more professional than just pickpocketing".  
"And did you do anything with these tricks of yours?" I asked, my voice gentle.  
I wanted to know what she had to say, but I also wanted to spook her as little as possible. Vivian Maxwell may have been a pickpocket and a criminal, but she was also a good person who had given up the criminal life in order to try and provide for her younger sister. She paused very briefly, obviously thinking through what she was going to say before she responded. "You already know that Paytan was giving me money to help me provide for my sister and to make a better life for the two of us. About a month ago, she came to see me. She said that there was something I could do in exchange for the money, and when I asked what it was, she asked me to consult on the film she was working on".  
I recalled what I knew of the film our victim had been working on before she had been shot to death in her hotel room only a couple of days before. Paytan and her colleague, an actor named Graham Savage, played a couple of professional criminals. Paytan's character specialized in safecracking. "Paytan asked you to teach her safecracking, didn't she?" I asked.  
"Yes. She asked me to teach one of her colleagues as well".  
I had a sinking feeling that I knew who that colleague was. "Ophelia Joyner?"  
"Yes! That was the name!"  
I stood up, pulling a pen and notebook from my pocket and handing them to Cassandra. "I have to make a quick call. Ms. Maxwell, can you tell my partner here everything you taught Paytan and Ophelia?"  
The girl nodded, and I gave a slight smile. "Good".  
Stepping outside, I dialed a number, my finger hovering over the call button, but as I was about to hit the button my phone vibrated and a notification popped up at the top of the screen, informing me that I had received a text message. Quickly tapping the home button, I opened the messaging app and scanned the contents. _‘Street addresses for Ophelia Joyner and Graham Savage as requested. Ms. Joyner lives at 166 E 96th Street Apartment 1B, and Mr. Savage lives at 1 Wall Street Ct Apartment 904. Hope these help – Mél’_. Smiling, I pulled up the phone app and hit the dial button. “Lance. Cassie and I are at Vivian Maxwell’s house. She told us that she taught our victim and Ophelia Joyner the art of safecracking. Ms. Joyner’s fingerprints should be in the system from that traffic incident last month, try comparing them to the third pair that we pulled from the safe in our victim’s hotel room”.  
“The partial? You know that’s not going to be a 100% positive match, right?”  
“I know. Can you do it?”  
“Of course. Give me a couple of hours”.  
I nodded. “Can do. Mél has just texted me the addresses for both Ms. Joyner and Graham Savage, so Cassie and I are going to go talk to both of them and see what we can learn. Starting with Mr. Savage”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The addresses mentioned at the end of this chapter in Mel's text to Alex are both real locations, and the addresses have been taken from apartment listings on the website https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Manhattan_NY


End file.
